# Tom — The Water-Babies character guide > Tom in The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Thomas Grimes, little Tom, poor Tom, naughty Tom **First appearance:** 0001-the-water-babies ## Snapshot A soot-caked chimney sweep who drowns, wakes as a water-baby, and must swim the long river toward whatever he is meant to become. ## Who they are Tom begins as Grimes's abused apprentice, sent up flues too narrow for anyone larger, until a wrong turn through a rich house's chimney sets him running for his life. Reborn in the water, he is fearless, curious, and quick to meddle — rescuing a trapped lobster, tormenting the otter — but he carries a nagging fear of Grimes and a longing for the lost green world of Vendale. His restless journey downstream, past mills and barges and sewer-mouths, is the book's moral spine: a small soul learning that going to see the world is a weary business, and that only those who refuse to stop halfway become anything at all. ## Relationships ### [Mother Carey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/mother_carey) _psychological_ Mother Carey is a powerful, mysterious creator figure who tests and transforms Tom through her cosmic authority. ### [Sir John Harthover](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/sir_john_harthover) _professional_ Sir John Harthover is Tom's former employer as a chimney sweep, representing the harsh class system Tom escapes. ### [Professor Owen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/professor_owen) _rivalry_ Professor Owen is a skeptical scientist who dismisses Tom's water-baby existence, embodying narrow rationalism. ### [Cousin Cramchild](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/cousin_cramchild) _rivalry_ Cousin Cramchild is a smug, pedantic child who mocks Tom's ignorance, representing narrow-mindedness. ### [The Doasyoulikes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/the_doasyoulikes) _social_ Tom encounters the Doasyoulikes as a degenerate tribe, serving as a moral warning against idleness. ### [Epimetheus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/epimetheus) _social_ Epimetheus appears as a mythological figure in Tom's journey, representing the folly of acting without thought. ### [Mother Carey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/mother_carey) _psychological_ Mother Carey is a powerful, mysterious creator figure who tests and transforms Tom through her cosmic authority. ### [Sir John Harthover](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/sir_john_harthover) _professional_ Sir John Harthover is Tom's former employer as a chimney sweep, representing the harsh class system Tom escapes. ### [The Doasyoulikes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/the_doasyoulikes) _social_ Tom encounters the Doasyoulikes as a degenerate tribe, serving as a moral warning against idleness. ### [Epimetheus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/epimetheus) _social_ Epimetheus appears as a mythological figure in Tom's journey, representing the folly of acting without thought. ### [Professor Owen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/professor_owen) _rivalry_ Professor Owen is a skeptical scientist who dismisses Tom's water-baby existence, embodying narrow rationalism. ### [Mother Carey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/mother_carey) _psychological_ Mother Carey is a powerful, mysterious creator figure who tests and transforms Tom through her cosmic authority. ## In the story ### [The Water-Babies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/the-water-babies) The protagonist, a chimney-sweep who becomes a water-baby after drowning. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/i) Tom is the young chimney-sweep who gets lost at Harthover Place, accidentally enters a lady's bedroom, and flees across the moor. ### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/ii) Tom is found by an old dame, exhausted and ill; he tells his story, is given milk and bread, and later, in a feverish state, wanders to a brook where he becomes a water-baby. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/iii) Tom is now a water-baby, clean and amphibious, but still prone to naughty behavior like tormenting water creatures. He forgets his past life and bad language, and becomes curious about the wider world after hearing the otter's tales. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/iv) Tom journeys through the sea, searching for water-babies and interacting with sea creatures. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/v) Tom rescues a lobster from a trap, is punished by Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid for stealing candy, and is cared for by Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. ### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/vi) Tom is taught by Ellie and the fairies, struggles with the requirement to help Mr. Grimes, becomes prickly due to naughty tempers, confesses his faults, and begins lessons with a new teacher. ### [The Other-end-of-Nowhere](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/viii) Tom travels to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, encounters a bogey, and attempts to help Mr. Grimes escape his punishment. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/tom - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters