Talk:Rumble Fish (novel)

Character list?
Is there a reason why a character list appears at the beginning of the article? Might need some work. 66.191.19.68 (talk) 22:23, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

I think that "Rumble Fish" was an excelent story with a great message. There was one phrase "The pet shop gave me the creeps, with all those little animals waiting around to belong to somebody." I think that this line is a great summery for this story. They all wanted to fit in and belong to someone. In the story they went around beating eachother up and killing for no reason at all.

I would definately reccomend this book for anyone over about age 11.


 * Five stars all the way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.219.212.99 (talk) 21:47, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Plot summary insufficient
The plot summary gives almost no synopsis of the book. Also, Rusty-James did not run his own gang during the book; it specifically says that the time of gangs was over. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.71.22.130 (talk) 04:24, 24 May 2009 (UTC)


 * This entire article reads like a school paper. The character list offers almost no useful information, and the Themes and Symbols sections contain some questionable interpretations, especially with nothing being sourced.  I haven't read the book in years and don't remember much of it, and I don't really have the time to read it at the present time.  Maybe someone more familiar with the book could help flesh this out? TransOceanic (talk) 19:16, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

I fixed the Characters section,as for the Themes we are figuring or what to do with it. I will also try to write a new plot summary. I deleted the original because of your comments about it but I've been so busy with things that I have yet to write a new one. I will definitely try to fix this though, my English teacher thinks this will be good writing practice, so it's a win-win.. Be sure to give me some ideas or even edit the grammar of things, you'd be more knowledgeable with those sort I things I believe. Amy.bear.xoxo (talk) 13:06, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Themes
Where did all those themes come from with no source? They could easily just be someones opinion or something gotten from a high school English class. Should they be removed until a source is given? AdventurousSquirrel (talk) 23:34, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

You definitely have a point there but in all fairness to the author of that article, their work if fairly general. While there is no source given it really isn't really hard to pick the themes of the book. They are very noticeable and I believe that the author was very accurate in stating the main themes. We could remove it and save it until we get a source or we could keep it up because the given themes are most likely the true themes of the book. There's no saying that these aren't the themes. However, it would cause problems or controversy (it probably wouldn't though..) it would be bet to take them down. Otherwise I vote No, they should stay. Amy.bear.xoxo (talk) 12:57, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I thought the section removed had some value.. I'll copy it here in case anyone comes up with refs or wishes to use it to expand the article. -- &oelig; &trade; 07:54, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Among the novel's themes are hero worship, alienation, gang life, and drug abuse.

Hero worship is explored through The Motorcycle Boy, the older brother of the protagonist. The Motorcycle Boy is well respected by most of the youth in the city and finds that it is "[a] bit of a burden to be Robin Hood, Jesse James, and the Pied Piper." Despite this adoration, the Motorcycle Boy feels alienated from society, separate and distanced from them. He believes it is this distance that leads the city's youth to revere him, because "Even the most primitive societies have innate respect for the insane." The Motorcycle Boy's physical barriers to the surrounding world, deafness and colorblindness, are the result of an accident and thus the result of the surrounding world.

The theme of alienation is also explored through the protagonist, Rusty-James. A tough teen, Rusty-James gets attached to people and fears being alone. It is revealed later in the novel that when he was a toddler, Rusty-James's mother took The Motorcycle Boy (who was six at the time) and left Rusty-James with the boys' father. The father then went on a three-day drunken binge, leaving Rusty-James alone. Rusty-James seems to often worry that The Motorcycle Boy will leave him. He believes he loves The Motorcycle Boy, Patty, Steve (partially), and his father (partially), though he is aware he cannot rely on any of them. In the end of the book, Rusty-James's father is proved worthless, The Motorcycle Boy is killed by a police officer, and Patty (his girlfriend) and Steve (his best friend), leave him. In the end, Rusty-James is left alone and alienated.

On the theme of gangs, while The Motorcycle Boy ended gang fights some time before the story takes place, Rusty-James is obsessed with them and wishes to bring them back. He was in the Little Leaguers, the peewee branch of the local gang, the Packers, when he was 11. Rusty-James tends to get upset when people disregard "The Rules," a systematic moral check point for teen fights, such as telling your opponent if knives are going to be involved beforehand, or that fights have to start without insults.

Teenagers are not the only characters with drug problems in the novel. The protagonist's father was once a lawyer but became an alcoholic after his wife left him. The Motorcycle Boy hates junkies, though this is never explained, and Rusty-James is also opposed to drug use. Weston McCauley, former second in command of the Packers, the local gang, is a heroin addict. Cassandra, originally a student teacher, who "thought she was The Motorcycle Boy's girlfriend," also does heroin, although she claims she is not addicted. The Motorcycle Boy doesn't ever drink. Steve was originally opposed to alcohol, but does eventually get drunk after his mother had a stroke. Rusty-James is frequently drunk.