Tom Oakley

Tom Oakley explaining why he cares so much about William, and perhaps his most memorable quote.
Tom Oakley is the titular main protagonist of the 1981 World War Two book Goodnight Mister Tom and its 1998 film adaptation.
He is a reclusive widowed man living in the British Village of Little Weirwold who takes in a young boy called William Beech into his home during WW2, where he uncovers the horrific abuse he has suffered at the hands of his mother.
He was portrayed by the late John Thaw.
== Personality ==
At the beginning of the film, Tom is portrayed as a lonely and grumpy elderly man who prefers to be left alone, and is not impressed that he has suddenly been left with the responsibilty of a young boy at his doorstep. However, he soon sheds these negative traits as he develops a close bond with Willie, being the only person in his life to actually care for him and uncover the child abuse he has suffered for years. 
He is also no nonsense and a good teacher, taking the time to teach Willie how to read and write, but also understanding when he had wet the bed. By the end of the film, he goes above and beyond for the boy, even rescuing from the squalor of a dusty closet and stopping him from being sent away to a children's home in London, when he wanted to stay with Tom. 
== Biography ==
Set during the beginning of World War Two, Tom lives in the village of Little Weirwold, dealing with the loss of his wife and son to Scarlet Fever a few years prior. At a low point in his life, he is rudely awoken to a woman knocking on his door, requesting that he temporarily fosters a 10 year old boy called William Beech, who hasn't been getting on well with the other children due to his quiet personality. Tom is initially furious with the proposition, and tries to appeal the decision saying he should be with someone who knows better to deal with him, but it is rejected and is forced to take him in. 
William from the beginning is immediately established as a boy with a troubled childhood, often being petrified to speak or do anything wrong. Such events include fainting when Tom pointed a red hot poker at him (even though he would never use it on him), and almost attacking Tom's pet Border Collie with a pitchfork. Tom later finds a belt along with a letter that his mother had sent along with him, with the instructions to hit Willie with it if he misbehaves. After discovering bruises and scrapes on Willie's back from the belt, he angrily throws it in the garden and vows he will never use it on Willie.
Over the next few months, Tom slowly teaches Willie how to read and write, takes him fishing with his friends and even hosts a surprise birthday party for him, things he had never experienced before. He develops a close bond with him, and even admits that he thought he would never find someone else to care for after the death of his wife and son. However, this all changes abruptedly when Willie receives a letter from London from his mother, Mrs. Beech, that demands he heads back to London on the next train as she is supposedly ill.
After Tom tearfully says his goodbyes to Willie, his mother greets him at the London train station and initially looks thankful that he has returned. However, this was all just a ruse to hide her true intentions, as she never was ill, and only wanted him back so she could continue abusing him. After verbally abusing him and locking him and his baby-half sister in a dank decrepid closet, she left the flat and told the neighbours that Willie had gone back to the countryside so no-one would know he is missing. 
Tom, realising the danger he might find himself in, takes a train to London against the warnings of an air raid, and breaks into the flat to find Willie in a dire state, now cradling his dead half- sister. Willie then develops a nasty illness that leaves him bedbound in a London children's hospital, where he has nightmares of nurses injecting him and the threat on being taken away from Tom to a children's home. Tom, having none of it, sneaks into the hospital at night and takes him via horse and cart back to his home. After nursing Willie back to health, he is made aware of the horrific nightmares and threats at the children's hospital, angrily confronting the doctor who suggested that he is sent away and tells him to back off. 
At the end of the film, Tom truly adopts William as his own son and raises him for the rest of his days, finally giving Willie the loving parent he deserves, free from the abuse and heartbreak that his mother and the authorities had put him through. 
== Navigation ==
Goodnight Mister Tom on Wikipedia
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