Why must Tom suffer so? He’s a cat, after all, and people love cats. They love cats a lot more than mice, especially. Yet Jerry, mouse in this ultimate cartoon cat and mouse game, wins nearly every battle between them. One online commenter compared Tom & Jerry to Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons. “Itchy always wins, except that one episode. lol.” Another proposed reason is the sheer love of seeing real life in reverse. In real life, the cat dominates the mouse.
A more serious type of commenter says it’s simple: if Jerry didn’t win, Jerry would be dead. End of show. (A savvy protester disagrees, “With that logic, Tom should be dead after having a 1000 pound anvil dropped on his head, but the show still goes on.” True enough.) Is it because Jerry’s the “good guy”? Maybe that’s it, real justice: Tom is the one who starts things. Tom’s the instigator. Jerry is an innocent until provoked. But there are peace lovers even on Internet threads, one of whom points out that in a few episodes, Tom and Jerry actually work together. Less drama maybe, but nice to know.
