Were Tom and Jerry suicidal?
The cartoon itself is entertaining but we can't deny it's underlying dark presence.
Tom falls in love with a female cat. He spends his life saving jewellery and gives himself up for slavery to buy a new car. Nothing works.
Tom falls into Depression seeing his crush with another cat. The milk symbolises alcohol.
Tom cannot handle the pain. We see him sitting on the railroad tracks besides Jerry the mouse. Jerry reflects on the memories of his lover cheating on him.
At this point you'd expect them both to hug or strangle each other right?
Nope. They just sit silently on the tracks, awaiting death. As the episode comes to an end, we hear a whistle, indicating the train approaching.
As Mais S. beautifully put it…
Tom and Jerry may have come through for one another in the end, but it doesn't subtract the fact that they fought one another relentlessly and continued to make one another's lives hell throughout the show.
The fact that they cared about one another enhances the darkness of the final scene. Despite their constant rescuing of one another, they decide to wait on the tracks together for the incoming train to hit them. Not only does this imply suicide, but it proves just how hopeless they both are to the degree where they can’t save one another anymore.
Tom and Jerry will always be one of the greatest comedies ever, but that doesn't take away the underlying issues behind the characters that aren't always surfaced without some interpreting. I think there's a reason the show suited all audiences. It may have given a laugh to kids, but the deeper meanings may have given something different to relate to more mature minds.