The Running Man Chapter 9 Questions

Chapter Nine:

1. How does the description of the two drawings of Tom Leyton (p.140) parallel Joseph's changing relationship with him?
Joseph's original attempt of drawing Tom Leyton has vague, tentative strokes and displays no connection between the drawing and the real person. However, if one compares Joseph's second try at drawing Tom then one can see the improvements. The second drawing is filled with depth through Joseph's artistic talents, but the image on the paper still does not look much like the real Tom because the eyes remain cold and lifeless while the face is impossible to read. The description of the two drawings parallel with Joseph and Tom's changing relationship because when Joseph first meets Tom he knows absolutely nothing about the mysterious neighbour except for the rumours that are told by Mrs Mossop. But as time goes on and Joseph visits Tom a few more times, they begin to develop a closer bond and Tom starts to reveal his true inner personality.

2. How does Tom Leyton's experience in Vietnam affect your view of him?
Tom Leyton's experience in Vietnam makes me feel sympathetic for him and makes me understand how he became what he is now. If anyone went through what Tom did they would most likely do what he does - hide away from the world. Tom's experience explains to the reader why he never talks to people, is the centre of all the gossip and is anti-social (avoiding everyone in the neighbourhood) because he is scared that the "monster" inside him will unleash and hurt someone close to him.

3. Why is Tom Leyton so bitter towards the chaplain and his blessing of, "God's speed"? (pp.147 - 8)
Tom Leyton is so bitter towards the chaplain and his blessing of "God's speed" because he lost faith in God when he stood frozen to the spot unable to move while he watched Mick (his best friend) get blown apart. Tom questions why God didn't help him to move and warn the rest of the men about the explosion so that the men would have survived the war. After all of Tom's experiences during the Vietnam War he now believes that "God's speed" is just a cruel lie and blames himself for being so stupid to think that God would protect them.

4. At the end of Tom Leyton's story, "the world for Joseph tilted so that even the most familiar and comfortable things appeared strange and oblique." Why does he feel this way?
At the end of Tom Leyton's story Joseph feels very surprised because he does not expect Tom's answer. Joseph asks Tom why he was holding the gun if it was not to kill the chaplain. Tom answers that the gun was for himself. In other words, Tom Leyton was going to shoot himself and commit suicide if none of the guards at the Vietnam camp stopped him and sent him home. Joseph felt like the world was suddenly tipped upside down as such because he honestly didn't think that Tom Leyton would ever think of suicide or that Tom's situation was so bad that he would drive himself to death's hands.

5. What insight does the story of Mrs Battista give to Tom Leyton's character?
From Mrs Battista's story we can get a new insight into Tom Leyton's real personality. When Tom keeps the last of the silkworm eggs and stores them in the refrigerator until spring to patiently wait for them to hatch, it shows a compassionate side to Tom. Even though the eggs look dead he still keeps them for Mrs Battista, who died some time ago in hospital from mental problems. Another example of Tom Leyton's kind side is seen when he watches the cleaner emptying Mrs Battista's silkworm eggs into the bin after he leaves the hospital. Tom takes the eggs home and saves them from dying. He takes them home to care for.

6. What does Tom Leyton mean when he says the silkworms have become his "metaphor for life"? (p.154) What does this tell you about the man?
Tom Leyton means that the silkworms mirror what life is really like. Silkworms are born, they live and they die. Their lives have no purpose and no meaning yet they go on with their pointless existence in blissful ignorance until someone tosses them in a rubbish bin. Tom relates the cycle of silkworms to the human life cycle and tells Joseph that we all are moths, flapping our crippled wings, dreaming that we can fly. This reveals Tom's realisation that there is no real purpose for living after his return from the war, where he has seen so many terrible events happening to people.