Jake Drake, Bully Buster

“Most bullies don’t seem so smart, and when they see a kid who looks like he is, something inside a bully says ‘Oh yeah? Well now you’ve got to deal with me, smart guy!’”

Jake shows that he is perceptive for his age when he identifies a sense of inadequacy as a motive for bullying. He is not unkind—he does not say that bullies are actually not smart, only that they “seem” that way. This introduces the story’s thematic concern with The Role of Empathy in Dealing with Adversaries.

“It took me four long years. It took having to deal with Nose Boy, and then Destructo, and King Bump, and The Fist. It also took being picked on by a Certified, Grade A, SuperBully.”

Jake’s use of anaphora and parallelism creates a rhythmic sound to his language that reinforces the repetitive nature of the bullying he experienced. The epithets for his various bullies, along with the hyperbolic description of the final bully, help to create a comic tone that softens the impact of the difficult subject of bullying.

“Best of all, Mrs. Brattle’s class had zero bullies. Not one. It was great.”

Because the reader is already aware that second grade is when Jake had his worst encounter with bullying, this statement creates dramatic irony. Second-grade Jake is elated about how well the year is going, but the reader knows a bully is about to shatter his happiness. The repetition of the idea that there are no bullies—“zero bullies. Not one”—emphasizes how important the absence of bullies is, increasing the dramatic irony.

“Any big kid can push a little kid around. That’s one kind of bullying. But this was different. Link Baxter, well…he got inside my head.”

Jake again shows how perceptive he is for his age by showing that he understands that bullying can take different forms. He understands that his own psychology plays a part in how effective Link’s bullying is—but at this point in the story, he does not know what to do with this information.

“And right away I knew I had made a mistake. Because now he knew I cared about him goofing around with my name.”

When Jake protests Link calling him “Fake” instead of “Jake,” he understands instantly that this is a tactical error (21). He has already learned important lessons about how to deal with bullies, and one of them is to not let the bully know what he is sensitive about. This underscores how perceptive Jake is and points out how he has had to teach himself about how to deal with bullies, because the adults do not step in to help. It also hints at Jake’s growing understanding that his own reactions play a part in Link’s behavior.

“It was like I wasn’t there. I was right there on the seat next to him, but I might as well have been on the moon.”

Jake’s hyperbolic description of how thoroughly Link is ignoring him adds to the humorous tone of Jake’s narrative voice. Despite his humorous tone, however, Jake is genuinely distressed by Link ignoring him—not relieved, as might be expected. This points out that Jake is eager to be liked and included, even by someone like Link. It hints at The Importance of Friendship and Support and foreshadows the eventual resolution of the problem between the two boys.

“I felt a lot taller than Abby.”

After taking the remote from his sister and changing the television channel to the one he wants to watch, despite her protests, Jake feels bigger and more intimidating. Since he has been feeling small and intimidated, this is a welcome feeling, and he follows up by kicking Abby’s pillow to reinforce his physical dominance. This illustrates the way that bullying is often a reaction to being bullied, and it foreshadows revelations about Link’s home life.

“And I thought it was going to be like all of the other times I had told Abby I was sorry. But it wasn’t.”

As is the pattern throughout the text, Jake ends the chapter on a suspenseful note. His comment provokes questions about why this time is different and what exactly will happen with Abby in the next chapter. This anticipation drives the narrative forward, as the story’s other cliffhanger-style chapter endings do—but it also foreshadows the wise words Abby will offer Jake about his situation in Chapter 5.

“I’d never tell her this, but Abby’s okay to talk to sometimes. You know, for a sister. I mean, since I don’t have a dog or anything.”

Jake’s desire to be liked and his humorous narrative voice are both on display in this moment, He begins by saying that he would never tell Abby that he enjoys talking to her, making it clear that his positive regard for a younger sister feels like a weakness to him. As he continues, he uses filler phrases—“You know,” “I mean”—to nervously connect with his audience as he distances himself from his admission of enjoying talking to Abby by repeatedly narrowing the circumstances under which he deems her “okay.” Jake feels a need to qualify his positive feelings about Abby, if he worries that the audience will judge his standards and find them lacking.

“If I get mad, I feel mean. I don’t like to feel mean. So I don’t get mad.”

Abby’s words are a turning point in Jake’s understanding of his situation with Link, showing The Importance of Friendship and Support. Abby makes it clear that people have some control over how they react to their circumstances and over their own feelings. She also points out that it is not fun to feel mean. As a result, Jake resolves to exercise more self-control when it comes to his response to Link’s bullying. He hopes that if he does not get upset, Link will have nothing to focus on besides his own feelings and that this will help Link realize that being mean is no fun. This is a key part of the text’s argument regarding The Role of Empathy in Dealing with Adversaries.

“I got angry. I felt like flames were going to shoot out of my eyes.”

The simile comparing Jake’s feeling of anger to the feeling of having fire shooting from his eyes conveys how extreme his anger is. The comparison of his anger to something hot is appropriate, as all day long he has been stressing how “cool” he is being when he ignores Link’s provocations (35, 36, 37).

“I was so mad. And it made me feel mean. And I lost it.”

Jake’s words echo Abby’s words a chapter earlier. This makes it clear that Abby is correct and that feeling mad can make anyone feel mean. When Jake says that he “lost it,” his diction makes clear that simply feeling mean does not inevitably lead to mean actions, however—he acknowledges that a person can fight against the feelings and choose not to act. Jake loses this internal battle, though, and he does act, choosing to hit Link.

“When people are mad at you, they do a lot of pointing.”

Jake’s perceptiveness and sense of humor both show in this comment. He is in the principal’s office, about to be scolded, and he is understandably upset—but he still notices and comments on this feature of human behavior. He goes on to portray Mrs. Brattle and Mrs. Karp both pointing at different times. This repetition creates some comic relief in a tense situation.

“There was a big gray desk. There was a row of big gray bookcases. And there was a big gray principal.”

The parallel construction of Jake’s sentences conveys a sense of things piling up on Jake as he enters the principal’s office. The repetition of the phrase “big gray” contributes to an atmosphere of dread, as Jake seems small in comparison to the drab furnishings and drab principal.

“He didn’t because he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell me why because he really didn’t know.”

This is a critical moment for Jake, as he realizes there is still a part of Link’s motivation that even Link does not understand. Jake knows that for most people—like himself and Abby—it is no fun to be mean. What he does not yet understand is why this situation is different for Link. He will have to get to know Link better in order to develop the understanding he needs to fix his problem, showing The Role of Empathy in Dealing with Adversaries.

“I was starting to think there was nothing I could do about it. Except live with it. Every day. For the rest of my life.”

This is the low point for Jake—the only moment when his optimism gives out and he thinks he might not be able to solve his problem with Link. His low spirits are emphasized by the series of sentence fragments, with their choppy rhythm mimicking the disconnected confusion Jake is feeling and their successive introduction of more and more burdensome possibilities.

“Just when I was sure that things could not get worse, they did.”

The plot is reaching its climax, and Jake increases narrative tension by adding a dramatic pronouncement in the middle of a chapter instead of waiting until the end. This pronouncement creates suspense regarding what terrible things Link will do next. The irony is that Jake is referring to the social studies project Mrs. Brattle partners him and Link on—and it is actually this project that will lead to the solution of Jake’s problem with Link.

“Every night I’d thought there was a monster under my bed. And then one night I’d gotten brave enough to look. And it wasn’t there. No monster.”

Jake draws an analogy between his confrontation with Link and his confrontation with an imaginary monster when he was five. This analogy casts Link in the role of the imaginary monster—something that Jake had made up in his own mind—and implies that Jake understands that his own fears help create the dynamic between himself and Link. The abrupt, disconnected sentence fragments at the end of the passage help to convey Jake’s confusion and disbelief—feelings he experienced at five and that he is again experiencing as he confronts Link.

“Link’s room was a surprise. I guess I thought it would be like a cave or jail cell or something. It was just a regular room.”

Jake’s reaction to Link’s bedroom reinforces the idea that Link is not the monster Jake imagines him to be. The absurd details of “cave” and “jail cell” are hyperbolic and amusing and convey a sense of how ridiculous and exaggerated Jake’s fears have been.

“She didn’t notice me. Real loud, she said, ‘Hey, Stink.’”

Although Jake has already realized that his own lapse into bullying Abby is a result of being bullied by Link, he has not considered before that Link might also be reacting to being bullied. When Link’s older sister enters Link’s room and loudly calls him by a mean rhyming nickname, this is Jake’s first indication that Link is a bullying victim, too. Her use of the same tactic Link uses when he makes fun of Jake’s name implies that Link has directly learned to be a bully from his older sister.

“Sure, he water-bombed me, and he ignored me a lot, and he called me a doofus. But he didn’t seem like a SuperBully, at least not all the time. Once in a while he was just—well, he was just like a kid.”

As Jake walks home from Link’s house, he reflects on what he learned about Link during their work session. He finally understands that there is more to Link than Link’s bullying behavior at school—he has begun to see Link as a whole person. This helps to show The Role of Empathy in Dealing with Adversaries.

“We were face-to-face, about two feet apart. I was looking up at him. No SuperBully in sight. Just a scared kid.”

At this moment, Jake finally sees Link as fully human. The mask of the bully slips away, and Jake sees the scared kid underneath. This realization that Link is just as human as he himself is, with vulnerabilities and a full range of emotions, changes his relationship to Link permanently.

“Link’s face got red, but he smiled. And it wasn’t a bully-smile. It was his real smile.”

The detail of Link’s flushed face conveys how unused he is to receiving praise and the positive attention of a group of his peers. Jake’s assertion that his smile, in this moment, is his “real smile” shows how much it means to Link. This helps to convey the story’s theme of The Importance of Friendship and Support.