37 pages • 1 hour read
Gary PaulsenLawn Boy
Fiction | Novella | Middle Grade | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Overutilization of Labor Compounded by Unpredicted Capital Growth”
Rain pours for the first time that summer, so the boy bikes to Arnold’s house on his newly upgraded ride: “I had bought a new inner tube” (35). Arnold has five binders full of the boy’s business information. Arnold is excited about the business’s direction, though the boy doesn’t know exactly what’s happening. Arnold uses business jargon throughout the conversation, which “was starting to sound like General Motors or something” (37). As Arnold talks, the boy nods along. The boy hardly believes that he is now responsible for 15 employees. The boy and Arnold consider the implications of having seasonal employees, agreeing to give them a nice bonus at the end of summer. Arnold estimates the boy’s gross profit will be $8,000—more money than the boy can imagine spending.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Dramatic Economic Expansion: It’s Causes and Effects”
Arnold describes how the boy’s initial $40 stock market investment developed over the past few weeks. The coffin manufacturing company, where the $40 started, had part of its net worth in valuable hardwood trees spanning thousands of acres. When the value of their high-quality coffins surged, a wave of people started buying those shares, which drove up the price of each share. By the time Arnold sold the boy’s shares, $40 turned into $8,000. Arnold reinvested the money in a software company—typically a risky move, but the software company succeeded. The stock split and re-split, doubling the boy’s number of shares twice. Though Arnold sold the stock at only $4 per share, the boy had twelve thousand shares as a result of the splits. The boy, who started with $40 he made with an old riding lawn mower, now has $50,000 in stocks and bonds. The boy faints.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Conflict Resolution and Its Effects on Economic Policy”
When the boy wakes bewildered, Arnold reminds him that the $50,000 isn’t straight profit. The boy will have to pay taxes on his capital gains (any money earned by his original investment) and Arnold’s broker commission, but those small expenses don’t lessen the boy’s shock. Arnold keeps all of the boy’s money in a diversified portfolio (a safer investment spanning a variety of stocks across a range of industries to compensate in case the value of one of them drops). The money is not liquid or directly accessible for the boy. Though Arnold can sell the stocks and cash the money out at any time, the account exists under Arnold’s name because the boy is a minor. The situation is even more complicated because Arnold is not the boy’s legal guardian. Technically, this means Arnold would have to pay the taxes on capital gains that don’t belong to him. Arnold suggests telling the boy’s parents about the money so they can transfer the account, but the boy still hesitates.
Arnold has one more bombshell: Instead of placing all the money in the software stock, he decided to “do some investing for fun” (51). He found an interesting sports stock, but misread the description; instead of joining a pool of investors sponsoring an athlete, the boy is now the sole investor for a local prizefighter named Joseph Powdermilk Jr., or Joey. Most of Arnold’s clients would bristle at such a frivolous investment, but the boy doesn’t think like most adults. The boy wants to learn more about Joey, to which Arnold responds, “Good, because he’s due here in about fifteen minutes” (52). A mountainous man arrives and politely introduces himself, thanking Arnold—then the boy, when corrected—for sponsoring him.
Pasqual bolts up the porch, announcing that a man named Rock is demanding money or else he’ll hurt the boy’s workers. Joey volunteers to help resolve the situation.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
A changing setting marks a change of pace for the protagonist. The summer’s first real rainfall cancels the boy’s mowing duties, so he bikes to Arnold’s house to talk business matters. They sit inside Arnold’s screened-in porch and drink hippie iced tea, and the boy ponders, “The rain was hammering down, almost deafening, and I found myself liking it. I used to hate rain in the summer because it ruined vacation time. Now I thought rain was beautiful” (36). Work has replaced the boy’s usual summer freedom, and the additional responsibility inevitably changes his perspective. The boy has spent weeks mowing lawns alone, the repetitive mower movements and lines hypnotizing him as the hours passed. The work cycle makes time pass more quickly, but the weather interruption allows the boy to see the world with new eyes. The altered pacing also aligns with a new plot direction: Not only does the boy make money mowing lawns, but his share values soar and suddenly he owns full interest in a local boxer. The boy’s enjoyment of the rain reflects his evolving maturity, indicating that he’s on trajectory to handle the new challenges coming his way.
In addition to clarifying dialogue, Paulsen also uses short sentences to emphasize dramatic moments. These single words or short phrases are often separated into their own paragraphs, obliging readers to pause between longer paragraphs containing either the boy’s inner monologue or Arnold’s confusing explanations and shocking news. This section holds many surprises, stunning the boy repeatedly (eventually causing him to faint), so Paulsen uses this technique to illustrate the boy’s reaction. For example, when the boy realizes he can buy things that were formerly outside his family’s budget, like an expensive Spalding basketball, his thoughts are two one-sentence paragraphs: “I was rich. Rich” (40). The isolated, repeated, de-contextualized word depicts shock and the boy’s momentary mental processing delay. The paragraph breaks allow readers to process the new information alongside the boy, helping readers track the protagonist’s mindset in light of each surprise.
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