Companion

Character Role Analysis

Toby

While it's Kory-Kory who spends much more time beside Tommo in these pages, Toby is the more traditional companion. After all, Kory-Kory is something between servant and jailer. Toby, however, shares the narrator's goals: first to escape the ship, then to escape the valley. When we first meet Toby, we're treated to a long character sketch about his bravery and openness, all ending with: "I was aware that he entertained a cordial detestation of the ship, and believed that, should a fair chance of escape present itself, he would embrace it willingly" (5.12). The two had been through long watches, and more than once, Tommo explains, he'd gotten Toby out of a jam.

Once the two sailors escape and move over the land, Toby gracefully and Tommo with enough clumsiness to shame a rom-com heroine, they help each other toward their mutual goals. But after Tommo's leg injury and their imprisonment in the valley, Toby escapes alone—without his buddy.

Of course, Toby is trying best to get help, and probably Tommo knows that, but it doesn't stop him from feeling upset, lonely, and helpless in the valley without his friend. Of course, you could argue that it's exactly this lonesome helplessness is a slow-drip of motivation that helps push Tommo to take action and find his freedom.