Setting

The novel Goodnight Mister Tom is set in England during World War II. The setting is created in a number of different ways. We can tell the geographic location from place names such as ‘London’ and ‘Little Weirwold’ that are mentioned in the narrative.

What other names of place names, cities, countries…are mentioned ?

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The way individual characters speak reveals where they live and something about their social background. Tom speaks a rural dialect of English having lived all his life in the countryside. William speaks a London working class dialect and Zach speaks an educated middle class dialect. We can also tell it is set in England from the language. William for example wears a ‘mackintosh’. [In Australia we would say ‘raincoat’] When he goes to the shop he chooses a ‘sweet’ [you would say ‘lolly’…An American might say ‘candy’]

What other typical English words and phrases used by the narrator/characters can you find ?

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There are a number of contextual references to the war. The opening chapters describe the preparation the citizens are making as Britain stands on the brink of war. The first chapter opens with Tom’s encounter with the ‘Billeting Officer’ as she makes her way round to the different houses with the evacuees from London who have been sent to the countryside for their own safety as the threat of war is ‘ imminent’. Other preparation includes building ‘bomb shelters’ and carrying ‘gas masks’. Young men from the village continue to enlist in the British army

What other references to war or wartime preparation can you find ?

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Texts with a text are also useful in creating a sense of time and place. The reader learns details of the impending war from a newspaper headline

Germany Invades Poland

The people of Little Weirwold listen to the declaration of war by the British Prime Minister Mr. Chamberlain on the radio in the village church. Letters and telegrams coveying sometimes tragic news contain contextual detail.

Other examples ?

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It is obviously not a contemporary setting as we can tell from forms of transport such as steam trains and horses and carts. There is almost a complete absence of modern technology and some of the props mentioned in Tom’s house include a ‘range’ oven and oil lamps.

What other mention of props, costume, descriptions of streets, shops, houses, villages which clearly show time and place ?

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Is setting revealed in other ways ?

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