How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying
By Scott Starkey
While
the genre of this book referenced above is realistic fiction with comedy and
humor included, however, the theme of this book, through my eyes after reading
it is: just to be happy with whom you are and not try and be someone you’re not.
“In How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying, Rodney has to live with the consequences
of the tough-guy reputation he accidently takes on.” For example, Rodney
Rathbone is a complete coward when it comes to school bullies such as Josh.
However, when a fluke accident takes place during a baseball game and all the
other school kids witness it; this is the start to Rodney becoming someone he’s
not – the tough kid on campus.
The
author, Scott Starkey, certainly understands both the kids and the school and
what takes place within. He focuses on how people in general will cheer for the
underdog in any situation or atmosphere, as he shows through the success of Rodney’s
character. As you will see throughout this book, the author shows how certain
characters are driven by forces beyond their control. For example, all because
of a pop fly that came from the sky, not only saved Rodney from getting beat up
on the playground of his new school by Josh – the nastiest bully ever, but at
the same time turned him into the school hero all because of a weird accident
that was beyond his control.
As you will find in this particular
book, characters such as Rodney want to escape from society. Through his anxiety
and fear of not only bullies, but anything scary at all, society (other kids at
the school) forces him to pretend to be the tough-guy he really isn’t.
Throughout this story, you will see that this isn’t the first time Rodney had
to pretend he was someone he really wasn’t, or even the first time he was
bullied at school.
Every situation is different,
however, depending on your own personal morals the outcomes will always be
different from one reader to another. For example, one reader may think that
Rodney had to pretend he was a tough-guy in order to not get bullied at school
was the right thing to do in this situation. However, another reader may have different
morals as far as lying goes. They may think that Rodney could have done
something different instead of lying about the events that took place and being
someone he’s not – all to prevent the truth about which he really is and/or to
avoid getting bullied. This example is probably the most obvious and the
biggest moral conflict from reader to reader within this book.
In
the end of this story, you will find that pretending to be someone you’re not
does have its benefits – like Rodney getting the girl of his dreams and becoming
popular. However, continuing to be the opposite of who you really are is a lot
more complicated; making things worse for you and/or exposing you to be the
target of even worse situations – like when Rodney starts getting picked on by
his teacher after becoming the tough-guy that he’s not.
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