Older siblings can take a significant role in the lives of the younger sibling. Sometimes that’s positive, and they can become role models. Other times, they can be bad examples that influence their siblings to become like them, or—more hopefully—help them learn from their mistakes. For the ten-year-old older brother of John Dennis Fitzgerald (JD), Tom Fitzgerald, his role is somewhere in the middle.
The Great Brain is partially inspired by author John Fitzgerald’s childhood, but throughout the book, he isn’t the main character. Although JD is heavily involved in each, Tom is the focus of almost all of the stories that the novel contains. Instead of following a conflict driven plot, this book was more like a humorous snapshot of JD and Tom’s lives that perfectly showcases Tom’s tricky nature.
Tom is manipulative and frequently gets what he wants. For example, he has a habit of charging people for things such as the ability to see his family’s water closet (the first indoor bathroom of the town) and even his friendship at one point. Despite this and the fact that Tom should in no way be considered a good role model, JD looks up to him.
The characterization and the relationships between each character is interesting and the way small details are written in makes everything feel much more believable. In the Fitzgerald household, it was a rule that if one of the three Fitzgerald brothers were sick, instead of trying to stop the contamination, they would let it spread to the other brothers so they could all be sick and heal together. Though this wasn’t a rule Tom made up, it wasn’t exactly the best standard considering JD purposefully got himself sick in order to ‘beat the system.’ The characters are undeniably flawed, but that makes them a little more real as well.
On the other hand, Tom has his good side. He rescues some boys out of a cave, though he did have personal motive behind it, and helps another boy run again and have faith in himself. In the end, it’s clear that a subtle change was made in Tom’s character. Somewhere along the way, the ten-year-old boy recognized that his actions didn’t always have to be driven by a hidden motive or need to be rewarded. Tom Fitzgerald is everything a cynic expects of the world, but the ending leaves a little room for hope. It’s enough to encourage readers—even if they aren’t as manipulative as Tom—to do just one more selfless thing today.
