- Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes
Published in 1857, Thomas Hughes’ ‘’Tom Brown’s Schooldays’’ is a classic novel set in Rugby and is partly an autobiographical account of the author himself. An uplifting story of a typical English boy’s life at Dr. Arnold’s famous Rugby school, ‘’Tom Brown’s Schooldays’’ presents the protagonist’s schooldays from his first day as an adamant youngster to his last day at the school where he is seen captaining the school cricket team. In the highly praised cricket match between Rugby and London, Tom exhibits an amazing code of honour when he lets George Arthur bat instead of another hitter known as the ‘’best bat left’’. Tom decides not to let him self be dominated by vainglory and is able to sustain his sense of fair play and integrity right till the end. He says, ‘’But I couldn’t help putting him in. It will do him so much good, and you can’t think what I owe him’’. Tom’s move to push Arthur up the batting order pays off as the latter puts up an outstanding performance even though Rugby goes on to lose the match by a narrow margin. Tom’s inspiring captaincy doesn’t fail to get noticed by the opposition as his counterpart from the rival camp remarks, ‘’I must compliment you sir, on your eleven’’. It is undoubtedlythe highest tribute to Tom and all the School eleven; irrespective of the result of the match.
All in all, ‘’Tom Brown’s Schooldays’’ is a didactic novel which traces a delightful journey from innocence to experience and revolves around the life of boisterous boy who thrived on fun, sports and adventure before blossoming into a mature personality.
