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Tommy Sherman: Difference between revisions
→The Circumstances of Tommy’s Death
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What caused the crate to fall? The wind, as Tommy walked past? A careless brush of his hand, or an attempt to lean against the crate? Or something else? We have one big crate leaning “precariously” against the viewing stands on the football field. The memorial goalpost had not been uncrated, assembled, or mounted. Before he left, Tommy Sherman told Daria and Jane that he intended to go out and see his goalpost, which he clearly thought <i>had</i> been assembled and mounted, and he wanted to read the plaque that dedicated the post to him. When he got to the field, he obviously realized none of that was possible. Was he so upset at seeing this that he tried to uncrate the goalpost by himself, pulling it over on him? Did he punch the crate in frustration and tip it over? Or did he finally lose his temper and do something stupid after he discovered the goalpost had been <i>misnamed?</i>
Fans of <i>Daria</i> have long been puzzled that <i>The Daria Diaries</i> identifies Lawndale High School’s football field as the location of the Tommy Sheridan Memorial Goalpost--<i>Sheridan</i>, not Sherman. It is generally assumed a mistake was made in the book. Perhaps not. [[Timothy O'Neill]] is infamous for getting the names of his students wrong. What if he was the one who wrote out the order for the goalpost? What if Mr. O'Neill got his history confused? (Sherman and Sheridan were both Union generals during the American Civil War.) What if the egotistical Tommy Sherman discovered that the shipping label for the goalpost <i>misspelled his last name</i>, so his goalpost was misnamed as well, and in a rage he kicked or struck the nearest flat surface: the unstable crate containing the goalpost designed to prevent careless football players from getting head injuries? <i>His</i> goalpost?
That’s irony for you on a lot of levels.
==Alternate Versions of Tommy Sherman==
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