Despite Hughes's tendency to be didactic, his reticence about sexual matters, the remoteness of the time and school depicted in the novel, and the frequently obscure British schoolboy slang, Tom Brown's Schooldays still appeals to modern readers. Like modern young adults, Tom and the other boys at Rugby suffer pangs of separation from family, stand up against peer bullies, ponder the ambiguities of friendship and the finality of death, and gradually assume adult responsibilities.

Tom is no saint; like his American contemporary Huckleberry Finn, he gets into trouble with authority, cuts corners when convenient, sees the hypocrisy of many conventional viewpoints, and relishes an active, outdoor life. Even when Tom is "civilized" under the indirect guidance of his headmaster, Thomas Arnold, he is not transformed into a prude or a snob. He is aware of his own weaknesses and feels great sympathy for those who do not possess his strengths. Thus, although the world that Hughes describes is one that modern readers will never enter, the characters and their internal struggles are relevant.