Tom Cat is the typical deceiver and trick-player. Tom’s character is based on a stereotypical scheme where cat (Tom) chases mouse (Jerry). However, this trickster series reverses the roles of the two characters. While Tom still portrays the role of the predator, every sequence sets up a situation where Tom is unsuccessful mostly due to Jerry’s quick thinking or Tom’s dumb luck.
Unlike Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner there was no Acme product to misfire and foil Tom’s plans. However, there were a few times when Tom would use a diagram or a drawn out sketch. Most of the time the setting was simple, taking place in a house. While Tom and Jerry were not the owners of the house, there generally was not a human element. Pesky Jerry, who always came out on top in the end, had a very in-your-face approach. One of the reasons this cartoon was so successful was because Jerry was always pitted as the underdog. On paper Tom had the upper hand: size, love of the family, and he was the animal designated to live in the house. Tom did everything in his power to catch Jerry, the only problem being Tom was not nearly as intelligent or crafty as his counterpart.
Tom was a trickster, often a shape shifting deceiver but always a loser in the ways of sabotage. The traits of a trick-player/deceiver describe them as the primary cause of disruptions, and they often become a victim of their own tricks. Tom was always the cause of the disruption and his ideas most of the time would backfire, or cause havoc to those they were not intended for. The traits of a shape-shifter say that they cross boundaries to human-animal or male-female via cloaks and transformations. Tom would dress in costumes as a female housekeeper, or a baby or even become invisible in his efforts to deceive Jerry. Most of the time the disguises would fool no one but himself. In the rare instance Jerry would fall victim to one of Tom’s pranks, he would get out only by Tom’s stupidity when he somehow found a way to foul up his own perfect scheme. The tricks Tom would pull include the bait tactic of a mouse trap, trying to capture Jerry using household products, and even using windup mouse tools to lure Jerry out of hiding.
With every plan or idea Tom formulated he caused himself more pain and trouble. Tom’s case is the same as many other villains in trickster tales. His rival easily fools him. Tom would seldom think about consequences, commonly getting in trouble with the rarely appearing human figure for causing a ruckus or damaging the house. Another problem that Tom had with catching Jerry was the fact that Jerry occasionally had assistance. Every once in a while Spike (the dog) and various other animals would come into the picture and Tom would have hell to pay for messing with Jerry.
There were some characteristics that were a bit amusing about Tom. One was that he never talked; he could beg for mercy, yell and sometime even sing but never was a word spoken in a normal conversational tone. Another odd premise would show Tom diagramming the capture of Jerry, but the sketches never depicted him actually catching Jerry.
While you cannot deny the intentions and the traits of Tom you should look at his heart to see what is really taking place. Tom used every trick in the book to catch Jerry and do the stereotypical thing that cats are supposed to do, which is eat the mouse, and Tom never was successful. This might be because Tom actually had a heart, or perhaps he realized that if Jerry were not around to keep him company, he would be just a lonely old tomcat. The fact that Jerry was in the grasp and or teeth of Tom nearly every show and never got a scratch on his head shows that Tom indeed has the fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous personality of the trickster.