"Tommy thought it possible the guardians had, throughout all our years at Hailsham, timed very carefully and deliberately everything they told us, so that we were always just too young to understand properly the latest piece of information" (82). Tommy is smart. I think that he gets what is really going on, with Madame, the gallery, and donations. On the other hand, there's no way for the guardians to know how smart certain students are or are not at different stages in their life. So there are always people like Tommy, who they didn't time perfectly, so now he understands everything. And people like Ruth and Kathy, who they did time properly, and don't totally understand everything. There is definitely something different about Tommy. I think he's another protagonist in the story. He's different because he gets what is going on, and he has random temper tantrums. Which I think stem from the fact that he hates that he has to die at a young age and will never be normal. Every one else seems to accept this, but he wants something different.