The Bully

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2002

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Themes

Smarts Versus Strength

The Bully explores the way physical strength affects power dynamics and hierarchies in adolescent life. Through picking up wrestling techniques and exploring resilience in the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Darrell learns that he can use his smarts to overcome his obstacles.

Darrell’s experience on the wrestling team is transformative. When Darrell first joins the team, Coach Lewis points out that despite his size, Darrell can defeat an opponent who is bigger by using strategy, reading his actions, and waiting for him to make a mistake. This concept is important to Darrell because there are aspects of his physicality that he cannot change: He cannot become bigger or stronger than his bullies. When Darrell does push-ups alone out of a generalized and seemingly futile desire to become bigger, he quickly feels defeated and abandons his workout regimen. But with wrestling, he sees a glimmer of possibility: He might be able to excel with the body he already has. This new belief in himself inspires him to work hard every day, gain strategy and strength, and develop confidence. In the story’s climax, Darrell uses his newfound self-assuredness to intimidate the substantially bigger and stronger Tyray and then relies on his wrestling techniques to take down Tyray. Fighting with smarts beats brute strength.

Darrell also explores his capacity for resilience and self-motivation when he reads Hatchet. The novel helps him conceptualize the idea of inner toughness, moving away from self-pity and despair and toward a more critical approach and a new resolve. Seeing the novel’s protagonist, Brian, almost give up in despair at his seemingly impossible situation, only to decide to survive against all odds, helps Darrell realize that he doesn’t have to give in to the self-loathing Tyray’s bullying causes. While Darrell fears the injury and humiliation that Tyray threatens, he chastises himself for his inability to fight back, his betrayal of his mother, and his helplessness. Reading about Brian weans him off this kind of negative self-talk and toward being his own emotional support system. In the final confrontation with Tyray, Darrell’s willingness to stand up to his bully is a victory in and of itself. For the first time, he is not hampered by fear and shame. Darrell recognizes that secrecy is one of the ways that Tyray has maintained power over him; calling out Tyray’s behavior openly is part of outsmarting his opponent.

Defining Being a Man

The idea of manliness comes up several times in The Bully, most notably in the context of Darrell’s changing relationship with his Uncle Jason. Over the course of the novel, Darrell recognizes that being a man requires sticking to your moral compass and standing up for people who need help.

When the novel first introduces Uncle Jason, he conceives of masculinity as exerting power over others. In his new quasi-fatherly role to Darrell, Uncle Jason feels that it is his duty to model how to be a man for his nephew. However, Uncle Jason’s approach is hurtful at best. He comments on Darrell’s small size, causing Darrell to feel inadequate and ashamed. Later, when Darrell first intervenes when Travis bullies Nate, Uncle Jason brushes off the bullying. He explains that in his opinion, this rough play is how “a boy becomes a man” (36). Uncle Jason endorses tormenting others as the pathway to being a man, as if exploiting the weak like Travis or Tyray do—or suffering like Nate and Darrell—somehow imparts traditionally male virtues like responsibility, self-respect, and moral backbone. This strikes Darrell as unfair and wrong, but he does not yet have the psychological strength to push back.

Other male role models in the novel offer Darrell better examples of how to be a good man. Mr. Mitchell’s sensitive and understanding approach to Tyray’s bullying—not ignoring it but also not escalating the situation by over-intervening—shows Darrell that being a man means both standing up for those being victimized and also empowering them to look after themselves. Mr. Mitchell inspires Darrell via the novel Hatchet and restores his faith in teachers. Similarly, Coach Lewis and Kevin exemplify better ways to use physical prowess. Both promote a supportive and encouraging atmosphere on the wrestling team, such that losing matches is a way to learn skills rather than experience humiliation. Here, physical strength is a source of camaraderie and leadership rather than intimidation; it also leads to emotional and psychological toughness—qualities that enable Darrell to reclaim his self-esteem.

Armed with what he has learned in school, Darrell pushes back against Uncle Jason for the first time after the wrestling match. Darrell is proud of himself for performing well in his first meet, but Uncle Jason ruins the moment by comparing Darrell to an old teammate he used to bully. Equipped with inner toughness, Darrell now has the courage to call out Uncle Jason’s ridicule as an attempt to tell Darrell that “[he’s] no good” (145). Darrell lambasts Uncle Jason for valuing appearances over Darrell’s genuine accomplishment. Unexpectedly, by not backing down, Darrell earns Uncle Jason’s respect.

At the end of the story, Darrell’s upstanding instincts lead Uncle Jason to a better definition of masculinity. When Darrell again intervenes to defend Nate from Travis’s bullying, ignoring Uncle Jason’s directive not to get involved because Travis has dangerously locked Nate in a crate, Uncle Jason recognizes that his nephew is right to step in. Admiring Darrell’s newfound maturity and strength, Uncle Jason acknowledges that “a man’s got to stand up when someone else is in trouble” (169). He has embraced Darrell’s version of masculinity—the moral fortitude and the willingness to help those in trouble, rather than the exercise of pure power—and is willing to admit his parenting mistakes. Embracing Darrell’s perspective, Uncle Jason vows to do better by his sons in the future.

How Bullies Exercise Power

The Bully explores how those who oppress use physical strength, social humiliation, and isolation to dominate their victims. The most obvious way that Tyray exerts power over Darrell is through physical intimidation. Tyray is bigger and taller, so he can physically block Darrell’s movements, shove or hit him, and damage his property. Moreover, Tyray has a group of followers, so Darrell is always outnumbered and easy to overpower. All of these physical differences highlight the same power dynamic: Tyray and his crew are strong and capable of inflicting pain, while Darrell is helpless and weak. As a result, the threat of physical violence becomes more powerful than the violence itself; Darrell’s fear of pain means that he will do anything to avoid being hurt. When Darrell sees Travis physically restraining Nate and destroying his toys, he recognizes the same power dynamic playing out between them that Tyray enacts over Darrell.

Tyray also uses social tactics to intimidate and exert power. Tyray frequently ridicules Darrell in front of others and publicly humiliates him. With physical intimidation, Tyray controls Darrell using fear of injury. With social intimidation, Tyray controls Darrell using shame since he is even more horrified of humiliation than he is of being physically harmed. Ongoing social humiliation erodes Darrell’s self-esteem, especially when Tyray exploits Darrell’s particular insecurity about not having money. Not only does Tyray make Darrell fork over his mother’s hard-earned money, which feels to Darrell like a huge betrayal, but he also twists the knife by calling Darrell broke: “Ain’t no one else there who’s as small, dumb, and poor as you” (88). Secondary bullies in the novel use similar tactics. For example, Uncle Jason makes an offhand comment about an old teammate he used to mock. After suffering so much verbal harassment from Tyray, Darrell recognizes ridicule as bullying and calls Uncle Jason out. As a result, Darrell realizes that he can undercut the social humiliation element of bullying by pushing back.

Tyray also takes steps to socially isolate Darrell and cut off his access to any available help. Beyond just mocking Darrell, Tyray also ridicules other people who associate with Darrell, limiting his ability to make friends. For instance, Tyray cruelly harasses Amberlynn until she publicly distances herself from Darrell. Likewise, Travis papers over his bullying of Nate by currying favor with his father and thus distancing his brother from the family’s source of power and approval. At the same time, Tyray commands Darrell to keep his bullying secret by making Darrell do things that would cause shame if publicly revealed. Though teachers offer to help and friends begin to appear in Darrell’s life, Tyray maintains control because Darrell is too humiliated to share what is going on. Only when Darrell develops enough self-confidence to understand that being victimized by Tyray is not his fault—something he figures out in part by empathizing with Nate—can he expose Tyray for the bully that he is and get out from under his thumb.