Thomas Knox Character Analysis

Thomas Knox is a chicken farmer from Iowa who spends several years in Cambodia trying to increase Cambodia’s egg output. Tom is outgoing, humble, and loves Cambodian food. He travels from village to village befriending the people and tending to their sick chickens, and giving advice on farming as he goes. The villagers unanimously love Tom. For two years, Tom tries to get the American government to fund a small project of importing American chickens to breed into the Cambodian poultry population to strengthen their stock. Tom believes that, through an inexpensive program, he can multiply Cambodia’s egg production within a few years, which would help to fight malnutrition across the country. However, Tom’s superiors ignore his plan because it does not seem grandiose enough and would take several years to execute. Tom becomes so furious that he resigns, resolved to go to Washington D.C and “raise hell” until he can find support for his plan. However, to prevent Tom from causing trouble, the French diplomats send him on a long, luxurious, expenses-paid tour through Asia and Europe, treating him as an honored guest. After months of traveling and being treated like royalty, Tom forgets what he was angry about in the first place and retires quietly to Iowa, pushing any memories of Cambodian villages out of his mind.