Tom 'Buckeye' Salt Character Analysis

Overview

Tom “Buckeye” Salt is the secret son of Cal Jenkins and Margaret Salt, raised by Margaret’s husband Felix Salt after Margaret abandoned the family when Tom was eight. His nickname “Buckeye” ties him to the buckeye tree in the Jenkinses’ yard—a symbol of rootedness and hidden growth. Tom’s story is one of delayed revelation and fractured identity: he grows up believing Felix is his biological father, only to learn as a young adult that his beloved childhood companion Skip was actually his half-brother, and that the truth had been hidden for decades. Tom becomes an anti-war activist in the Vietnam era, a path shaped by his sense of justice and by Skip’s eventual death in combat.

Plot Role

Tom serves as the emotional hinge of the novel’s second half. His existence connects the two families—the Salts and the Jenkinses—while his ignorance of that connection drives the central secret. His draft-lottery survival and the subsequent confession from Felix force the plot toward estrangement and, eventually, a tentative reconciliation. Tom’s activist work, his college radio engineering, and his slow burn of grief and anger give the story a contemporary political dimension, grounding the Jenkinses’ personal tragedies in the wider turmoil of the 1960s and 70s.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

• Justice-driven activism: Tom organizes anti-war rallies, joins the Washington moratorium march carrying a sign with Skip’s name and portrait, and participates in the Chicago protests. His activism is a direct extension of what Skip taught him about not giving in to bullies.
• Curiosity and mechanical skill: As a teenager, Tom dismantles and rebuilds radios and tape recorders, a compulsion that leads him to major in engineering. This trait reflects his need to understand how things work—a contrast to the family secrets he cannot disassemble.
• Emotional withdrawal: After learning the truth, Tom stops returning calls, avoids Bonhomie, and lets his answering service go unchecked. He tends his anger “like he would any other part of himself.”
• Restraint in confrontation: When he drives to Columbus and sees Margaret at work, he watches her long enough to recognize her unhappiness but chooses not to speak to her. He concludes there is “nothing to be gotten from her,” a decision that shows both self-protection and a hard-won emotional realism.

Chronological Arc

1. Childhood (1950s): Tom is bullied for his red hair. Skip becomes his protector and friend. When Margaret leaves, Felix raises Tom alone.
2. Adolescence (early 1960s): Tom and Skip drift apart due to age difference. Tom builds radios and a tape recorder; later majors in engineering.
3. College and activism (1965–1968): Tom attends Toledo University (TU), works at the campus radio station, loses his virginity, and becomes involved in anti-war organizing. He corresponds with Skip in Vietnam. Skip’s death in the Battle of Huế devastates him.
4. Draft and discovery (1969): Tom draws a high lottery number, sparing him from service. Felix reveals the secret of his parentage. Tom confronts Felix, meets the Jenkinses, and drives to Columbus but does not approach Margaret.
5. Estrangement (1970–1975): Tom cuts contact with Felix and the Jenkinses. He works at radio stations in Toledo, lives with girlfriend Kathy, and avoids home. The Kent State shootings deepen his disillusionment.
6. Reconciliation (1975–1976): Cal finds Tom in Toledo and brings him back. Felix is diagnosed with terminal lung disease. Tom is present at Felix’s death, reconciles with the Jenkinses, and writes to Margaret. She arrives after the funeral; they share a brief embrace.

Relationships

• With Skip: A formative bond. Skip teaches Tom to resist bullies. Their relationship cools as Skip ages, but they reconnect through letters. Skip’s death is Tom’s deepest personal loss, and the lie about their brotherhood makes the grief worse.
• With Felix Salt: Felix raises Tom with love but withholds the truth out of fear. After the revelation, Tom feels betrayed. Their estrangement lasts years, but Tom eventually returns for Felix’s final days, suggesting a hard-won forgiveness.
• With Cal and Becky Jenkins: Cal and Becky watch from a distance as Tom grows up. Cal retrieves Tom during the estrangement, acting as the bridge. Tom’s anger toward them is complicated by their own loss of Skip.
• With Margaret Salt: Tom’s biological mother. He is haunted by her abandonment. In Columbus, he sees her living a dull, constrained life but chooses not to intervene. This non-encounter defines their relationship: an absence that shapes him more than a presence.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Theme and Symbol Connections

• Secrecy and Family Lies: Tom is the central victim of a decades-long deception. The lie about his parentage robs him of his half-brother for life. See Secrecy and Family Lies.
• War Trauma and Survival Guilt: Tom is spared by the draft lottery while Skip dies. He carries survivor’s guilt and channels it into activism. See War Trauma and Survival Guilt.
• Mediumship and Grief: Like Becky, Tom seeks signs of the dead. He keeps Skip’s memory alive through protest signs and his radio work—a secular mediumship. See Mediumship and Grief.
• Marital Estrangement and Hidden Identities: Margaret’s abandonment and Felix’s secret create a family built on omissions. Tom’s identity is hidden from him. See Marital Estrangement and Hidden Identities.
• Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Tom’s arc ends not with a neat resolution but with a choice to return. The embrace with Margaret and the presence at Felix’s death suggest forgiveness is possible though not perfect. See Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
• The Buckeye Symbol: The buckeye tree in the Jenkinses’ yard gives Tom his nickname. A buckeye seed is smooth and nut-like, hiding potential growth. Tom’s true origins are similarly hidden until they crack open years later.

Five Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Tom decide not to approach Margaret when he drives to Columbus?
He watches her at work in a department store and sees that she is unhappy—she wears “too many faces.” He concludes there is nothing he needs from her, either consolation or apology, and that to speak to her would be for her sake rather than his. He chooses to preserve his anger and distance.

2. How does Tom’s activism relate to Skip’s military service?
Tom sees his anti-war work as an extension of what Skip taught him about fighting bullies. He is initially dumbfounded by Skip’s enlistment but never lets it put them at odds. After Skip’s death, Tom carries his name and photograph at protests, linking his grief to political action.

3. What is the significance of Tom learning about his engineering major from Felix?
Tom chooses engineering because it is the closest available field to his interests in broadcasting and sound. He is surprised to learn that Felix also majored in engineering before switching. The parallel suggests an unseen bond between them, even as the secret of Felix’s non-paternity remains intact.

4. Why does Tom stop opening mail from the Jenkinses and stop checking his answering service?
His anger is deliberate and actively maintained. He feels that by participating in the lie, Felix and the Jenkinses have stolen his sense of self and his chance to know Skip as a brother. Cutting contact is a way to assert control and deny them his presence.

5. What role does the draft lottery play in Tom’s character arc?
The high number spares him from Vietnam, a relief that immediately triggers the revelation of his parentage. The lottery becomes the catalyst for truth: Felix chooses this moment to confess, knowing Tom might die without ever knowing the whole story. Tom’s survival is thus both literal and emotional—he survives the war only to face a different kind of catastrophe.

For more discussion of the novel’s ending and unanswered questions, see Ending Explained and Questions and Answers.