Summary
Five Past Ten
Tommo Peaceful remarks that he is alone at last and that he needs to remember all of his eighteen years of life tonight. The narrative then goes back many years, to when Tommo was a child.
In the past, Tommo is walking to school with his older brother Charlie, and they are discussing one of the teachers, Mr. Munnings, who often physically disciplines his students. Tommo is unhappy that their oldest brother, Big Joe, doesn't need to go to school. Instead, Big Joe spends most of his time sitting in a tree and singing a song about oranges and lemons.
Tommo hopes that Mother will come running after him so he doesn’t have to attend school, but she never does. Seeing his brother’s distress, Charlie offers Tommo a piggyback ride, which makes him feel a bit better despite the fact that he feels as though this morning is the end of everything.
Tommo sees a dead crow on a fence. Tommo dislikes crows because one of them recently stole the eggs from a robin’s nest that Tommo had been looking after.
The robins make Tommo think of his father, who has recently died. Tommo remembers the day of his funeral, when all the members of the family put his earthly possessions in his casket.
When they arrive at the school, Tommo snaps back to the present. Charlie assures him that school is not so bad, and the first day really is the hardest.
Mr. Munnings watches the children arrive at the school, and he asks what he has done to deserve another Peaceful. He then says that he is lord and master at the schoolhouse, and he lays down a list of strict rules. Tommo is relieved when he is ushered into Miss McAllister’s class instead of with the rest of the “Tiddlers” (small children). The bigger children (the “Bigguns”), including Charlie, go into Mr. Munnings’ classroom.
Miss McAllister seats Tommo next to a girl named Molly and tells him her laces are untied. Crying, he tells her that he doesn’t know how to tie his laces. Miss McAllister tells Tommo that Molly will tie his laces, and she does. The color of her hair reminds Tommo of his father’s horse. Tommo practices tying his laces during recess until he is finally able to do it, and he notices Molly smiling at him. He can tell that they will be friends.
Tommo starts to think about his father again. His father used to take Tommo with him when he went into the forest to attend to his duties, and Tommo would explore the woods while his father worked.
Tommo finds a dead mouse and buries it under a pile of leaves while his father chops down a tree. Suddenly, he hears a creaking from the tree above him and realizes that it’s coming down and will crush him. He is frozen with fear, and his father pushes him out of the way and is crushed by the tree instead. Tommo shakes him and shouts, but he does not wake up.
Tommo, Mother, Big Joe, and Charlie sit at the front pew during the funeral. A swallow flies throughout the church during the ceremony, and Tommo thinks that it must be his father’s spirit because his father once said he’d like to come back as a bird in his next life. Big Joe opens the door to the church and the swallow flies out.
The Colonel, the man that Tommo’s father worked for, gives a speech about what a good worker Tommo’s father was. He was never late for work during all his thirty years as a forester, and his family worked for the Colonel’s family for five generations. Tommo thinks of the rude names that his father used to call the Colonel, such as “silly old fart” or “mad old duffer.”
The family buries Tommo’s father, and Tommo wishes that the priest would stop talking so that Father can hear the birdsong. The family walks home as Tommo reflects on his dark secret—he was the one who killed his father.
Twenty to Eleven:
In the present, Tommo is offered stew, potatoes, and biscuits, but he doesn't want to eat them. This makes him think of a woman named Grandma Wolf, who would have been furious to see that he had left food on his plate.
When they were all children, Tommo's brother, Big Joe, used to eat more than anyone else. Charlie and Tommo even gave him a bag of rabbit droppings once and said they were candy, and Big Joe ate them all. Their mother eventually discovered this prank and forced Charlie and Tommo to eat the rabbit droppings just to show them how disgusting they were.
Their mother tells them that Big Joe nearly died a few days after he was born from meningitis. He survived, but he grew up a bit differently from the others. He cannot read or write, and sometimes he becomes agitated for no particular reason. However, he is also loving and forgiving. Tommo and Charlie are devoted to their brother.
One evening, Charlie, Tommo, and Big Joe are coming by the lane when the Colonel rides by. Big Joe calls out a greeting and tries to show off the fish he has caught, but the Colonel ignores them, so Big Joe blows a raspberry at him. The Colonel is furious and says he'll "teach them," and the boys run off. After that, the Colonel begins to hate them.
Another time, a boy at school named Jimmy Parsons insults Big Joe by saying that he's a loony. Tommo fights him but loses badly, and Charlie has to step in and fight off Jimmy. Mr. Munnings catches them fighting and beats both Charlie and Jimmy. Jimmy cries out in pain, but Charlie is totally silent.
Molly helps Tommo clean himself up and tells him that she likes Big Joe because he's very kind. Tommo realizes that he will love Molly until the day he dies.
After this, Molly becomes part of the family. Mother treats her like a daughter and she goes on a number of adventures with the boys.
Tommo thinks more about his mother. She was kind and gentle, and she treated Big Joe with special care. She used to sing often, but she stops singing after her husband dies.
Shortly after their father's death, the Colonel comes to their cottage and says that they have to move soon. The cottage was given to them while their father worked at his estate, but now their father is dead. He offers another option: Mother can look after his wife, who is very sick. Mother asks who will look after the children; the Colonel says that the two younger boys are able to fend for themselves, and the older boy can be placed in a lunatic asylum. Mother refuses to accept this and instead has "Grandma Wolf," her aunt, come and look after the children.
Grandma Wolf is a mean and unpleasant woman. She insists that the children call her Grandma instead of Great-Aunt, but because she reminds them of the wolf who pretended to be a grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood, they call her Grandma Wolf instead. She is strict and cruel to Big Joe and the rest of the children, while Mother goes off to work at the Big House every day at dawn.
Grandma Wolf criticizes Mother in front of the children, saying that she married below her station and now she has come to grief because of it. Mother is too exhausted from her work at the Big House to stand up to Grandma Wolf. Tommo has a number of nightmares during this period of time, but he always feels better when Charlie is near him.
Nearly Quarter Past Eleven
In the present day, Tommo realizes that there is a mouse near him. He likes this mouse and wishes it would come back soon.
Grandma Wolf did not like mice. They discovered this when Big Joe tried to put out food for the mice, which attracted them to the house. Grandma Wolf smacked him for this and tried to bring in a wart charmer to get rid of the mice, but unfortunately, it did not work. She becomes even more terrible than usual due to her hatred of the mice. The children make up increasingly terrible stories about her at night, saying that she and the Colonel should marry and have a brood of monster children.
Though Grandma Wolf dislikes the boys, she seems to have a soft spot for Molly. Molly's parents are extremely strict as well, and so Molly knows how to behave well. Therefore, Grandma Wolf allows her to keep visiting the boys.
For Big Joe's birthday, Molly gets him a present in a little brown box with air holes all around it. It is a mouse, and it quickly becomes Big Joe's favorite pet. However, Grandma Wolf quickly finds out and gets rid of the mouse, along with Big Joe's many other pets. Big Joe cries, and Molly tells Grandma Wolf that she's a horrible woman who will go to hell when she dies.
Fortunately, a miracle occurs. The Colonel's wife dies and Mother is able to come back home. Mother gets into a number of arguments with Grandma Wolf. They are somewhat short on cash for food, however, so the boys and Molly take up poaching. They are careful to watch for the Colonel's bailiff, and Charlie takes the lead with this plan. They bring back lots of food, and everyone is well fed.
Eventually, the Colonel arrives at the house and says that the family is allowed to keep the cottage because the Colonel's wife liked Mother so much. He asks Mother to do some of his linen and sewing work, which she can perform at her own home, so she now has a steady income. Additionally, the Colonel asks Grandma Wolf to return to the Big House as his housekeeper; since his wife is dead, she will no longer get into arguments with Grandma Wolf.
The children continue their explorations through the countryside. One day, they all take off their clothes and go swimming together. Molly throws some stones and says that they say that the three of them will always be happy together, forever.
Not long after, Molly falls ill with scarlet fever. Charlie and Tommo come to visit her; they discover that her parents are cold and strict and that her cottage is dingy and dark. Tommo thinks about how unhappy she must be in a place like that and hopes that she recovers soon.
Analysis
The writer leaves the reader with a number of questions at the beginning of the novel. The transition from the present to the past is abrupt, but it serves the narrative function of immersing readers in Tommo's world. The writer doesn't explicitly state who the narrator is—instead, the reader learns his identity later when other characters address him. Likewise, the writer does not say outright that Big Joe has brain damage, instead depicting his actions and showing that he functions differently from other characters.
When the reader first meets Charlie, he is the knowledgeable, kind older sibling who supports his younger brother's first day of school, even offering him a piggyback ride when he is scared. Later on, Charlie physically defends Tommo from a schoolyard bully, accepting the punishment he receives for this courageous act with calm. In every way, Charlie appears to be the ideal older brother.
Half of the title of the book is the word "Peaceful," which is both the surname of Thomas Peaceful, the protagonist, and a reference to the fundamental problem of the novel: war and human suffering. Thomas would likely agree that when one suffers greatly, their main desire, which started as a desire for joy, quickly becomes a deep need for peace. This dilemma comes to a head during the novel's climax, which is a pretty good indication that the real role Charlie serves is that of the peace-giver.
The novel contains a flashback within a flashback, moving back to the point in time when Tommo's father died. Because Tommo's father's death was caused by his pushing Tommo out of the way of a falling tree, Tommo feels directly responsible for his death. This is symbolized by the fact that Tommo's father died pointing at him, which Tommo interprets as his father blaming him for his death. This sense of guilt and the secret he carries will follow him throughout his life, eventually finding a parallel in Tommo's role in Charlie's death.
This section also introduces Molly, who will be the love interest of both of the brothers throughout the novel. Tommo is taken with her when she assists him in tying his shoes, and later he becomes even more enamored with her when she says that Big Joe is kind and she likes him. However, when the brothers meet her parents, they discover that her home life is not as harmonious as their own.
