Who is C. Thomas Flood (Tommy) from Bloodsucking Fiends and what is their importance?

Tommy is a young boy who wants to be a writer. His father, a stolid union worker from Indiana, disapproves of his son's dream and finally confronts him. Convinced that Tommy is not gay or communist and that Tommy is dead set on being a writer, his father decides that the proper course of action is for Tommy to go to the city and starve. Tommy's father packs him up and sends Tommy to San Francisco.