Scholarly Commentaries
Ruth K. MacDonald, professor of English at New Mexico State University observes that Tom Kitten is the first of Potter's Sawrey books and introduces characters that would make appearances in the following Sawrey books. Tabitha Twitchit was a longtime resident at Hill Top who kept the rats in check and figures prominently in three of the books and peripherally in another. She is a blend of Potter herself and probably her mother or another proper Victorian lady who resembled her.
Inspired by the real Tabitha and a kitten Potter borrowed for the 1906 production of The Story of Miss Moppet, The Tale of Tom Kitten is about how children react to manners. Tom Kitten's very name suggest carefree, mischievous boyishness in the manner of the 19th century's exemplars of boyhood, Tom Sawyer, Ton Aldrich, and Tom Brown. He is unusually defiant of parental strictures and taboos. Tom's mother tries to dignify the rascal by calling him Thomas, dressing him in elegant clothes, and by issuing taboos once he is groomed and dressed to walk upon his hind legs and to stay away from the pig sty, the ash pit, and Sally Henny Penny. Not only has Tabitha forced her children into unnatural human clothing but forces them into unnatural postures.
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