Question

Summary of the new school fellow

Answer 1

When he returns to school, Tom meets Philip Wakem. Mr. Stelling introduces the two boys and then leaves them alone together. Philip is a small, deformed youth with a hump as the result of a childhood accident. Tom feels an aversion to him, and Philip is too proud and timid to speak, so they are both silent until Tom sees the pictures which Philip is drawing. He is struck with admiration for their realism. They begin to talk, and Philip says that he has taught himself drawing and that he likes Latin. He tells Tom that the Greeks were "great fighters," and Tom is eager to hear stories of heroes.

Wishing to even the balance, Tom tells Philip that he "thrashed all the fellows at Jacobs'" and allows himself to feel superior because Philip does not like fighting

Answer 2

The New School Fellow is the third chapter of the story The Mill on the Floss. Tom is the central character of the story. When he gets back to be tutored by Mr Sterling after a holiday, he meets Philip Wakem, a deformed person.

While Tom is uncomfortable at first with Philip, he warms up when he hears the various tales that the latter has to say. 

However, both are keen to prove their superiority over the other in different ways – Tom wants to prove that he is a better intellectual while Tom wants to show that he is stronger.