54 pages • 1-hour read
Born to Rock
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Themes
Genetics and Identity
As Leo goes on a journey to connect with his biological father, he comes to understand his own identity in new ways.
Leo connects his identity to his genetics in the very first chapter, when he explains how he has “McMurphy, the eight-hundred-pound gorilla […] in my DNA, a total loose cannon rolling around my personality” (5). McMurphy is later revealed to be the last name of Leo’s biological father, whom Leo has never met. In Chapter 4, Leo recounts first learning about Marion X. McMurphy and feeling like “I wasn’t quite me anymore” (33). Leo felt “Something had gotten into me—or more precisely, someone. I’d try to be good […] And then I’d feel McMurphy rising” (34). Leo separates himself from his internal McMurphy because he is not connected to the McMurphy side of his genes. Rather than accept the parts of his identity that might be unruly, Leo others this behavior as the work of McMurphy, an alter-ego he rejects and refers to as a “genetic hitchhiker” (25) and “a security breach” (34). This feeling of split personality is so pervasive that McMurphy feels like a whole other entity: Leo even narrates, “I knew I wasn’t alone in there” (34), referring to his own mind. Because Leo feels separated from the part of his genetics that comes from McMurphy, he suppresses his wilder McMurphy urges to put distance between himself and his McMurphy genes.
When Leo connects with King Maggot and joins him on tour, he gets the opportunity to connect with the McMurphy part of his identity as well. This parallel is set up the first time Leo lays eyes on King Maggot. To Leo, “This was McMurphy. The McMurphy on my birth certificate, the McMurphy in my veins. Somehow, the fact that I was […] looking at the missing piece in the puzzle of who I was, eclipsed Harvard, tuition money, and all my machinations” (63). Leo connects the McMurphy in his mind to the actual human being, King Maggot, showing how he links the unruly side of his identity to his genetics; at the same time, with a physical representation of McMurphy in the real world, Leo feel less need to imagine him as a secondary character inside his own mind. As Leo gets to know King Maggot, he becomes familiar with King’s antics, his stage persona, and the appeal of punk rock music. In Chapter 18, King Maggot helps Leo connect with his inner McMurphy by helping Leo learn to make a guttural scream. Leo describes summoning “a reservoir of pure McMurphy” to make it happen (158), letting out a scream that impresses King. This moment lets Leo bond with both his external and internal McMurphys at the same time.
In the final chapters, Leo fully accepts his internal McMurphy as a part of his identity, integrating this part of his personality rather than splitting it off. He notes the transformation as he watches Purge’s final show: “I had finally become a punk Republican” (202). Leo finally unifies his identity as a conservative political thinker with his rebellious and impulsive side, acknowledging that he can be both at the same time. Leo affirms this in Chapter 23, when he faces off with Vice Principal Borman one more time. When the school official refuses to change Leo’s record, Leo’s inner McMurphy allows him to stand up for himself: “I wanted to hit him. It was McMurphy, I knew. But this time my hitchhiker wasn’t some stranger. I was McMurphy, and McMurphy was me” (212). Leo’s unification of his identities and acceptance of McMurphy as a core part of himself develops the idea that knowing one’s heritage means knowing oneself.
The Ethics of Lying by Omission
Much of the internal and interpersonal conflict of Born to Rock comes from of characters’ decisions to avoid telling the truth. Through the different ways characters like Leo, Leo’s mom, and Bernie McMurphy choose to wield their lies-by-omission, the novel explores the ethics of choosing to conceal.
Leo’s mom is the first character guilty of lying by omission. Leo only discovered that his biological father is not his dad when he saw that the name on his birth certificate doesn’t match his dad’s name. His parents’ lie of omission was destabilizing, as his mind spun alarming theories about why they hadn’t explained his origins: “To this day, I believe the only reason they finally did tell me was because I looked so cowed that even the truth couldn’t possibly be as awful as […] my terrified imagination” (32). After ten years believing that his father is his biological father, young Leo is put through extreme emotional distress to learn otherwise. Rather than be up front with Leo about his parentage, Leo’s mom chooses to simply say nothing on the matter. Although she never lies to Leo outright, her lie by omission still damages Leo’s sense of self, and the information about McMurphy causes Leo to other a part of himself as the stranger in his genetics.
Leo takes up the mantle of hiding the truth when he joins the Concussed tour. Not only does he not mention this to his oldest friend and punk music lover, Melinda, but he also carries with him a secret motive: asking King Maggot for Harvard money. Leo then compounds the lie by never telling King Maggot about the loss of his Harvard scholarship and joining in Bernie’s lie by omission about Leo’s true parentage. In Chapter 22, after Leo has read the DNA results and discovered Bernie is really his biological father, Leo realizes King “didn’t know! Bernie hadn’t told him” (198). Leo makes the choice to allow King to go on thinking he’s Leo’s biological father because “as long as King didn’t know the truth, Harvard wasn’t dead yet” (198). Leo makes the unethical decision to continue to pursue Harvard money from King Maggot even though King Maggot is not his biological father. However, Leo cannot go through with it. He decides that “I wasn’t going to take his money based on a lie. The thought that I’d even considered it made my face burn in shame” (207). Leo realizes it was wrong of him to try to use a lie by omission to gain financial support from King. Leo’s choice here develops the idea that lying by omission is unethical when done for the advancement of personal aspirations.
However, Leo’s final lie by omission in Chapter 23 challenges the idea that all lying by omission is unethical when he chooses not to tell his mom that sexual predator and Purge manager Bernie McMurphy is Leo’s real biological father. He acknowledges, “Mom’s penance was over. She had done her time” (211), adding that “The poor woman had spent nearly twenty years coming to terms with her brief liaison with a rock star. If she had to scale that back to sleazy womanizing manager, I couldn’t predict how she’d take it” (211). Leo’s decision to lie by omission to his mom about Bernie comes from a place of empathy and love. He understands she’s anguished over her past for years, and she’s finally come to a place where she accepts a version of herself that had a fling with King. Leo knows that nothing good can come from telling his mom the truth about her actually being victimized by Bernie, so he chooses instead to let it be. Leo’s choice develops the idea that not all lying by omission is unethical when it comes to preserving the mental peace and happiness of loved ones.
Overall, the novel develops the idea that lying by omission is often an unethical and irresponsible choice, with consequences ranging from emotionally hurting to taking advantage of those being lied to. However, when the choice between being honest or saying nothing means honesty will lead to more unnecessary pain, it is sometimes a more ethical choice to omit the truth.
Music and Self-Expression
Music and Self-Expression is a theme explored primarily through Leo’s introduction to the punk rock world with the help of his oldest friend, Melinda, and his presumed biological father, King Maggot. Through these characters and their interactions with the punk rock world, the novel develops the idea that music is an important vessel for self-expression and emotional release.
Melinda’s relationship with music and self-expression is emphasized early in the novel, when Leo explains that “Not only did she adore punk bands with names like Purge and Sphincter 8, but she had to look like them too” (9-10). For Melinda, music is the core pillar of her self-expression, influencing her attitude and outward appearance. Melinda, who “wasn’t just a music fan. She lived and breathed music” (13), ties her identity to her preferred art form. Melinda elaborates on the link between music and self-expression in Chapter 6, as she and Owen explain to Leo the appeal of Purge as a manifestation of their internal drama: “We think it and feel it, and there’s King screaming it over a hundred thousand watts of raw power. It’s like your words are pouring out of his mouth, and his rage is your rage” (47). Melinda’s explanation illustrates the way Melinda and other fans of Purge find catharsis and the release of anger through Purge’s music. Melinda’s love of Purge develops the idea that music is an important source of emotional release.
King Maggot, and Leo’s time around Purge’s performances, also helps Leo to understand the importance of music in self-expression. During Purge’s debut performance after 16 years of hiatus, Leo spots a music critic in the audience, but “She wasn’t making notes. She was weeping. Her eyes never left the figure that rampaged across the stage” (103). Leo sees many more emotional displays from Purge fans along the road, and he eventually comes to understand the music more. This understanding is aided by King Maggot himself, who offers Leo his own definition of punk music in Chapter 18. King explains that punk is “A bunch of no-talent guys who really, really want to be in a band” (158). He adds that “It’s simple and angry and raw” (158). King’s definition of punk music illustrates the way that people often use music as an outlet for emotions, whether they are creating it or listening to it. The rawness of punk music is a direct reflection of its aesthetic of expressing emotion first, and musical talent a distant second.
In the end, Leo grows to appreciate punk music and its role in allowing him to enjoy his full self, McMurphy and all. Leo feels he’s “finally become a punk Republican” (202). Leo’s choice to self-identify as “punk” shows that he’s found the ability to express himself through music he initially dismissed and to mature as a person because of it. Between Melinda, King Maggot, and Leo, the novel develops the idea that music, particularly emotionally charged music like punk rock, plays an integral role in self-expression for those who relate to its emotions and ideas.
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