Thomas "Tom" Jasper Cat, commonly referred to as Tom Cat, or more simply referred to as Tom, and originally known as Jasper, is one of the two anti-heroic protagonists in Tom and Jerry, alongside Jerry Mouse, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Despite being referred as an anti-heroic, Tom is more often placed in the role of the antagonist, with Jerry often being the protagonist just as much.
Tom is a bluish-grey and white anthropomorphic domestic short haired tuxedo British cat who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. The cat was known as Jasper during his debut in the short; however, beginning with his next appearance in The Midnight Snack he was known as Tom or Thomas.
Tom and Jerry cartoons
His name, "Tom Cat", is based on "tomcat", a word which refers to male cats. He is usually mute and rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as 1943's The Lonesome Mouse, 1944's The Zoot Cat, 1947's Part Time Pal, 1953's Puppy Tale and 1992's Tom and Jerry: The Movie). His only notable vocal sounds outside of this are his various screams whenever he is subjected to panic or, more frequently, pain. He is continuously after Jerry Mouse, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. His trademark scream was provided by creator William Hanna. Hanna's recordings of Tom screaming were later used as a stock sound effect for other MGM cartoon characters, including a majority of Tex Avery's shorts.
Tom is usually defeated in the end (or very rarely, killed, like in Mouse Trouble, where he explodes), although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry. Besides Jerry, he also has trouble with other mouse or cat characters. One of them that appears frequently is Spike Bulldog. Spike regularly appears and usually assists Jerry and beats up Tom. Though in some occasions Tom beats him or he turns on Jerry (like his debut appearance in Dog Trouble). Usually when Tom is chasing Jerry after a bit Jerry turns the tables on Tom and beats him or uses an outside character such as Spike to beat Tom.
Tom has variously been portrayed as a house cat doing his job, and a victim of Jerry's blackmail attempts, sometimes within the same short. He is almost always called by his full name "Thomas" by Mammy Two Shoes. In 1961 short Switchin' Kitten Tom has a membership card as belong to the "International Brotherhood of Cats".
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I can see on Wikipedia this assertion which is supported by a reference to an essay that I can’t access.
Atwood herself doesn’t ever seem to talk about Iran. She’s very explicit that her inspiration was the reaction against women who were partially emancipated into the labor force during WW2 but then being pushed back into the role of mother / wife, and also she’s very explicit that the puritans in the USA were the inspiration. Her overarching thesis is that societies never really rid themselves of these impulses.
Maybe she referenced Iran at some point given the religious police there? She’s also referenced Soviet secret police. Neither were a primary motivation at all, just what she considers examples of regression.
I would assume she’s made a passing reference to Iran at some point and the Wikipedia editor wanted to amplify that but Atwood is extremely clear her inspiration is the west, western anti-feminism, and Puritanism.
The Wikipedia article seems to be trying to frame it as “what if Iran happened in America?” but that’s exactly the opposite of what Atwood says. She’s very clear that she sees these tendencies in the west already and she’s writing about the reaction against feminism and extrapolating that reaction forward. In her life she saw a regression from woman as worker to woman reverted back to mother / wife, and she’s projecting that forward by saying “the reaction really does want to return us to Puritanism.” Return being key, it’s already a tendency and historical fact in the west. That’s what she’s talking about.