been following the discourse and i just felt like i had to say something. TOM AND JERRY are NOT best friends who have to hide their friendship from tom’s owner. tom’s owner is literally never around, we see her feet like two times, 1/?

why would tom put on a show when his owner is NEVER AROUND? tom cooks his own t-bone steaks, fries his own fish and carrots, pours his own milk from the fridge. cats aren’t even supposed to drink milk or eat carrots. his owner DOES NOT supervise him or make him healthy meals 2/?

first, who IS tom’s owner? the owner changes a lot, which may imply that tom has been tossed around from house to house, possibly fueling his violent behavior. first he was cared for by a black housekeeper portrayed in a very racist way, then a white lady, then a teenage girl. 3/

the owners all have a few things in common: 1) we only ever see their feet, and 2) they all love HITTING TOM WITH A BROOM whenever they see him, and 3) they have never played with him or done anything to enrich his life. i would never hit my cats with a broom 4/

for all these reasons, i must conclude that tom is trapped in a cycle of neglect/abuse by his owners. while jerry plays largely harmless pranks on tom, tom takes it too far, demonstrating serious underlying emotional problems. jerry seems happy with his life. tom seems broken 5/?

tom takes his problems out on jerry, because jerry is an easy target. i think if tom was amenable, jerry would agree to a peace treaty between them with no hesitation. but jerry is forced to defend himself, and thus tom perpetuates the exact cycle of abuse that he seeks to avoid.