Fuzzies

 Have you ever pressured yourself to be like your friends? Well, in this short story, __Scout's Honor__, by Avi, the unnamed narrator feels like this: pressured to be tough. To achieve this so called "toughness," the narrator has to become an actual boy scout by going on hike in "some country." In the story he and his friends meet up to find country and encounter many things that will challenge them, but in the end.... You never know what may happen. The main characters in “//__Scout’s Honor__//” include the narrator; Max (Richard Macht); Horse (Phillip Hossfender.) Avi never gives him a specific name so he is basically anybody, which means that the reader can relate to him more so than if the narrator actually had a name. He is definitely a dynamic character in my opinion because he sees that he is just as brave as and possibly braver than his friends towards the end. Max is a very pudgy and persuasive character. The narrator says that Max is very popular in a way because of his abundance of pocket money he always seems to have. He is undeniably a dynamic character in the narrator’s eyes to me because he sees Max as being tough, but soon comes to realize that Max in no tougher than he is. Horse is a whiny, skinny, and sensitive character. At the slightest comment, he will get offended, and say, "Are you saying.." whatever the comment is about, in threatening tone. He is not near as tough as the reader thought in the beginning from what the narrator said. Mr. Brenkman is not only a Scout Leader, but a preacher as well. The Narrator says in the book that, “One day he would be dressed in black to tell us about Hell’s Fire and the next he would be wearing khaki to teach us how to make a fire." (Page 54.) He can be seen as either a static or a dynamic character in my point of view because he does change from Scout Leader to preacher, but he doesn’t really change throughout the entire story. The story __Scout’s Honor__ starts off in Brooklyn (page 53), but doesn’t stay there for long! In the year of 1946 (page 53), the narrator, who’s nine years old, is going on a trip to find “some country” in New Jersey to prove that he’s tough. That’s all he’s ever really wanted: to prove that he’s as tough as his friends. He now thinks that this is his chance, because when he gets back from this trip, using the boy scout promise, "Scout’s Honor," he will move from a tenderfoot to an actual boy scout (page 54.) He wants this because, once again, to him being a boy scout means being tough. What better way symbolize the toughness of being a Boy Scout than to have a Boy Scout badge? So to the narrator, the Boy Scout badge means being tough (which is a symbol in this story.) So the narrator convinces his friends, Max and Horse, to come on this hike with him (pages 55 and 56), and they head off to High Street Subway Station (page 57.) Unfortunately, Horse left his mattress behind at the subway station, and just as he was boarding the train remembered it (page 57). So the narrator and Horse jump out of the train just as the doors are closing, but Max didn’t have time, and so while the narrator and Horse went to go back and get Horse’s mattress, poor Max got stuck on the train and had to ride all the way to New Jersey and back. As you can imagine, the narrator and Horse had to do some waiting!They finally arrive in New Jersey, but then discover that it’s no different from Brooklyn. They walk in the pouring rain to find a place that is relatively close to country, and start trying to build a lean to. Horse and Max look to find a tree to chop down for the lean to, but Horse’s hatchet is dull, so they have to settle for old sticks lying on the ground. While they’re gathering sticks, the narrator is trying to start a fire, but having no success with everything wet. Once the boys have built the walls of their shelter, they, against the narrator’s will, put the narrator’s mom's best quilt on the top. After that, they all settle down to eat, but then get in a food fight. This not only wastes all of their food, but knocks down the lean to. Now, the boys are cold, tired, hungry, and wet. They then all decide that they hate roughing it, and then go back to the train station around midnight to go home. The short story, __Scouts Honor,__ consisted of multiple pieces of literary devices. Some were hyperboles, others were similes and idioms, but there were definitely many examples of alliteration. Some of the examples the author used were quite, unusual, like “It looked like a limp scab” which was a simile (pg. 57) or “looked like a noodle factory hit by a bomb.” Also a simile (pg. 56). For some reason the characters may have thought that pain was very common. One of the reasons I say this is they would often say “my foot is killing me!”(Hyperbole, pg. 61) as well as “I’m gonna kill you!” which of course would never actually happen so this would be considered a hyperbole (pg. 60), One of the last things that I know just about everyone has said is “My legs are melting!” (Hyperbole-pg. 62). Some examples of alliteration that were shown throughout the story were “puny pin” (pg. 54), “Buster Brown” (pg. 59), “Street subway station” (pg. 56), and” fast fading flashlight” (pg. 62). Apparently these kids were very good at convincing because the narrator said, "Max could talk his way out of a locked room.” (pg. 55 – idiom). Unfortunately for them, you could tell that by the end of their trip they were “a zillion miles away” (pg. 55- hyperbole) and there were “streaks down his cheeks” (rhyme- pg. 57). So as you might have been able to tell there were many different and original examples of literary devices. I think that the author did an amazingly good job coming up with those. The narrator is a boy scout, who wants to be tough. We meet the main character, and he goes to ask where to find country.(pg.54) Next, Horse forgets his mattress on the platform and has to run back to retrieve it! By the time they realized he left it and went back to get it, the subway was gone leaving Max all by himself. (pg.57). Next, Horse soon finds out that he has forgotten his can opener and only has canned beans to eat. Finally, they reach Jersey. They find a place to camp, which was hard to because every where was littered with trash and the sky was darkening as the day turned to night, and were going to build a lean- to, but Max's hatchet that he had brought along was too dull to cut the tree. They built a very messy lean-to of sticks. Then they decide to use the narrators blanket as the top. Finally they gave up due to the lack of food, other supplies, and a wrecked lean-to. Finally, they got home around midnight! In this story, identities are found and the truth comes out. You find out just how tough everyone is. Through all the different settings, events, characters, and many hilarious literary devices the story of the unnamed narrator unfolds into a wonderful piece of writing which is a very memorable story. This story is a wonderful piece of literature and many compliments should go out to Avi, the author.