Maniac Magee

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1990

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue and Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary

Maniac goes back to sleeping at the zoo, this time in the buffalo pen. One day, he falls while climbing the fence and injures himself. An old park attendant named Grayson finds him unconscious on the ground, skinny and dirty. Grayson takes Maniac to the baseball equipment room behind the band shell. When Maniac wakes up, Grayson feeds him instant soup. Maniac is still hungry, so Grayson brings him a sandwich and asks his name. Maniac tells him about running away from his home on the East End, which confuses Grayson because they are both white. When Maniac asks for butterscotch Krimpets, they go to the store.

Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary

Grayson then takes the boy to the YMCA, where he rents a room on the third floor so Maniac can shower and borrow clothes. After buying Maniac better-fitting clothes, Grayson asks Maniac about going to school. Maniac refuses to go to school because it’s only a “day home,” and he has no real home to go to after school like other kids do. He plans to stay in the baseball room and warns Grayson that if he tries to force him to go to school, he will run again. Grayson silently accepts.

Part 2, Chapter 24 Summary

They have dinner together at a local diner, where Grayson asks about the Beales. Because Grayson has never been in a Black home, he is surprised to learn that the Beales are just a regular family. Grayson invites Maniac back to his room, but Maniac chooses to stay in the baseball room because he believes that he only brings bad luck to other people. Before Grayson goes, Maniac asks for a bedtime story, but Grayson declines. Wanting to learn more about Grayson, Maniac asks him what he wanted to be when he was a kid; Grayson tells him that he wanted to be a baseball player.

Part 2, Chapter 25 Summary

The next day, Grayson brings Maniac breakfast. Maniac learns that Grayson’s first name is Earl and that he was a pitcher in the minor leagues. When Grayson brings lunch, Maniac begs him for a baseball story, so Grayson tells him about his first day in the Minors. In the story, Grayson arrived in West Virginia, and a gas station attendant tricked him into ordering a big meal at a local restaurant, claiming that rookie baseball players get their first meal free. He ended up missing his first game because he was forced to wash dishes to pay for the meal.

Later, when Grayson’s boss asks about Maniac, Grayson claims that the boy is his visiting nephew. From then on, Maniac works with Grayson on his route, helping him at the parks. While they work, Grayson tells him more baseball stories, including how he struck out Willie Mays before the player became famous. He also tells Maniac about missing his big chance with the Toledo Mud Hens at 27 years old when he pitched a bad game. At age 40, he left the world of baseball for good.

Part 2, Chapter 26 Summary

While sharing baseball stories, they toss a ball around until eventually Grayson teaches Maniac how to perfect his baseball skills. The only pitch that Grayson can still throw at his age is one he calls a “stopball,” which Maniac can never hit well. They spend more time together until one day in October, when Grayson again suggests that Maniac should go to school. At this point, Maniac reveals his new book collection. He has been borrowing books from the library and teaching himself things like geometry, astronomy, and geography. Later, Grayson asks Maniac to teach him to read.

Part 2, Chapter 27 Summary

Maniac learns that Grayson’s parents had an alcohol addiction, and his teachers didn’t have faith in him, so he never bothered to learn to read. Instead, he ran away from home at the age of 15. Together, they pick up books and supplies, and Grayson quickly learns the alphabet. He learns consonants easily but has trouble with vowels. Eventually, with encouragement and patience from Maniac, he is able to read a full sentence by himself, an accomplishment that makes him extremely happy.

Part 2, Chapter 28 Summary

When Grayson finally reads a full book by himself, Maniac says “A-men” and tells Grayson the phrase is used “when somebody says something or does something you really like” (103-104). He hugs Grayson and makes him a snack using some of the small appliances that Grayson has provided for his baseball room. Maniac insists that Grayson sleep over on the unused mat; Maniac prefers to sleep on chest protectors. As he contentedly falls asleep, Grayson remembers Maniac’s hug and whispers “A-men” to himself.

Part 2, Chapter 29 Summary

On Thanksgiving, they go to the high school football game, where Maniac’s old friend “Hands” helps Two Mills win the game. Grayson and Maniac later make a Thanksgiving meal. Maniac says a prayer thanking God for his new family and wishing the Beales a happy Thanksgiving as well. After dinner, Grayson and Maniac dance to old polka records. Before bed, Maniac asks for paint and uses it to write on the outside of the door; he declares his new address to be 101 Band Shell Boulevard.

Part 2, Chapter 30 Summary

By Christmastime, Grayson is now living with Maniac in the baseball room. They fully decorate their new home with lots of Christmas decorations, including a tree. They also go into the woods to decorate a second tree because they are so full of Christmas spirit.

Part 2, Chapter 31 Summary

On Christmas morning, they visit their outdoor tree and then go to the zoo to wish the animals a merry Christmas. Maniac gifts the baby buffalo a scarf before they head home for breakfast. They exchange gifts; Maniac gives Grayson gloves, a hat, and a handmade book called The Man Who Struck Out Willie Mays, written by Maniac himself. Grayson gives him gloves, butterscotch Krimpets, a new baseball, and his old glove. Maniac is delighted. However, five days later, Grayson dies.

Part 2, Chapter 32 Summary

Maniac tries waking Grayson but finds his body cold. He spends that day talking, reading, and saying goodbye to Grayson before lying next to him and crying. The next day, Maniac goes to the zookeeper for help. The funeral takes place after the New Year, and Maniac is the only one present besides the funeral home owner and the pallbearers. They are callous and impatient as they wait for the minister to arrive; Maniac can’t tolerate their disrespectful behavior and runs away.

Part 2 Analysis

In Part 2, Grayson becomes Jeffrey’s new caregiver and serves as a much-needed father figure for the boy. From his quiet demeanor and succinct answers to Maniac’s questions, it is clear that Grayson is a reserved old man accustomed to living a quiet life alone, and the growing friendship between the two is incongruous yet deeply meaningful. Although the narrator continues calling Jeffrey “Maniac,” Part 2 is notably lacking in examples of the trademark heroic feats that originally earned him that nickname. Instead, Grayson only knows him as Jeffrey, and the boy gets a chance to just be himself and open up to his mentor in a safe, quiet space. While the section begins and ends with another of Jeffrey’s trademarks—running—he never runs anywhere during his time with Grayson, and given the constant theme of escape that his running signifies, the lack of running likewise indicates that in this time and place, he has no need to escape his surroundings; he is safe, protected, and loved. This section also features little to no secondary characters, whereas the first section was filled with various Two Mills townspeople. With Spinelli’s deliberate decision to simplify the nature of the narrative, Part 2 can focus solely on the developing father-son relationship between Grayson and Jeffrey. Indeed, Grayson’s very name can be viewed as a symbol, for it serves as both a reference to old age and to his view of Jeffrey as a son. Aside from Grayson’s tragic death, there is hardly any conflict or major plot development in this section. Instead, Part 2 focuses entirely on character development and relationship building as Jeffrey learns to make a home with the old man. Thus, the tone is less mythical but is still full of wonder and whimsy.

Jeffrey is not the only one to benefit from this relationship, for Grayson also learns to heal and forgive his own past mistakes and perceived failures. He sees his younger self in Jeffrey, and Spinelli makes this sentiment clear in the narration when he states that Grayson looks at the boy “with a mixture of puzzlement and recognition, as though the fish he had landed might be the same one he had thrown away long before” (88). Thus, Grayson believes that in a philosophical sense, helping Jeffrey gives him a chance to go back and help the boy he himself used to be. Having run away from home himself to independently chase after his baseball dreams as a young boy, Grayson recognizes Jeffrey’s instinct to run away in search of a home and family. Right after feeding and clothing Jeffrey, the “tiny idea [that] was beginning to worm its way into Grayson’s head” (85) is that he can be Jeffrey’s family and provide Jeffrey with the support and love that he never received from his own parents or teachers.

In many ways, however, these roles are reversed, and Jeffrey becomes Grayson’s teacher. He patiently and diligently teaches Grayson to read, and the narrative even uses a baseball metaphor to underscore Grayson and Jeffrey’s favorite sport. He also teaches Grayson to think of himself as a storyteller even though the old man initially claims not to have any stories to tell. Most importantly, however he teaches Grayson that the racial division and inequality in Two Mills is not natural. Although Grayson is not overtly racist, he does display ignorance that is based on racist ideas, as is clear when he says, “Them black people, they eat mashed potatoes, too?” (87). The use of the word “them” in this example indicates that he thinks in terms of binaries that are enforced by the racial divide of Hector Street. The de facto segregation of Two Mills has isolated him from Black people so much that he is unable to see them as regular people who eat regular food just like him. Therefore, this scene demonstrates the town’s ongoing racial divide from the other perspective. While Part 1 shows how Black people in Two Mills respond to a white boy, Part 2 demonstrates how a white man in the town views Black people. Despite the deeply problematic nature of his ingrained prejudices, Grayson is at least open to the idea of learning more about the people from whom the systemic patterns of Two Mills has separated him. Instead of rejecting Jeffrey’s experience with the Beales as an arrangement that does not conform to his misguided notions of normalcy, he asks questions. This dynamic shows that the only way to ease ignorance is through communication and open-mindedness.