Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

“The scary thing was that the big kids didn’t seem angry. I’m pretty sure they trashed his stuff by reflex, like they were scratching an itch or squashing a bug.”

This simile demonstrates the bullying culture at the high school. When the older kids dump the contents of Mouth’s backpack on the sidewalk and throw his hat down the storm drain, they are indifferent in their cruelty. If they had been angry, there would have been a rationale for their actions; however, Mouth only registers as a minor irritation to them, which makes their bullying incomprehensible.

“If someone cut my head off, the last words whistling through my throat as my face plunged towards the floor would be, ‘I’m fine.’”

Through hyperbole, Scott illustrates the lengths that he will go to convince others that he is okay, even when he is not. The news that his mother is expecting a baby is shocking to him, and it leads to a sense of displacement within his own family. What Scott thinks of as harmless lies are a motif in the novel; Scott relies on these small deceptions to hide his hurt and confusion.

“Nothing’s going to change.”

Change is a primary motif in the novel and supports the themes of Coming of Age: Shaping One’s Identity as an Individual and The Changing Nature of Family and Friendships. Scott is trying to convince himself as much as Bobby when he states that the new baby will change nothing in the family.

“I was only four when you were born, but I can remember how much it changed things.”

For many children, it’s difficult to go from youngest to second-youngest. Bobby’s recognition of the changes that will occur once the baby is born also demonstrates his lingering hurt about being supplanted by Scott as the baby of the family. This statement supports the theme of The Changing Nature of Family and Friendships.

“But as I walked toward my front door, the weight of my backpack dragged me down into the real world.”

Scott’s metaphor emphasizes the difference between his dreams and the real world. He wants to write book reviews, but the reality is that he already deprives himself of sleep to complete his homework. The books in his backpack represent the obligations he already has, which keep him from pursuing his dreams.

“At least the Sheldon shield worked. I had the feeling that by the time he graduates, the accumulated smacks will have turned his brain into some sort of liquid resembling bean soup.”

Lubar uses alliteration in the phrase “Sheldon shield” to create humor, and the image of Sheldon’s brain turning into bean soup is also meant to be humorous. Scott uses humor as a coping mechanism to alleviate the stress induced by the bullying culture in the high school. However, beneath the humor is the reality of “accumulated smacks,” which paints a realistic picture of ongoing bullying.

“It was the gentle whisper of the power sander.”

In this piece of imagery, Scott describes the sound of his parents renovating the guest room next to his bedroom, which wakes him up early on a Saturday morning. Describing the roar of a power sander as a gentle whisper is verbal irony: The sarcasm demonstrates Scott’s advanced language skills and sophisticated humor.

“Meet the Hudson kids—one had split, one hadn’t arrived, and the other didn’t have a clue about where he was going.”

Scott describes the instability of the Hudson family by using anaphora. Each son is in a state of flux caused by the changes both outside and within the family home. Through wit, Scott briefly yet firmly establishes each Hudson child within their current lot in life.

“When we were little, it was always Kyle who did the most damage to anthills and spiderwebs.”

When Patrick notices that Scott has a crush on Julia Baskins, Scott is terrified that Kyle will notice as well. He identifies Kyle as a destroyer who preys upon small insects, which foreshadows Kyle’s later betrayal when he learns of Scott’s infatuation with Julia. Kyle’s cruelty also characterizes him early on as a bully, a trait that Scott is oblivious to because of their friendship.

“He’d buzz over and explore a spot, discover there was no opening, drop back and hover for a while, then try another spot. The bees never find a way out. Their dried corpses litter the windowsills.”

In this metaphor, Scott compares Mouth’s fruitless attempts to get a girl to dance with him with the futile escape attempts of bees trapped in a window. Although most of Scott’s interactions with Mouth are colored by Lubar’s humor, in this instance, Mouth is presented as a tragic figure. The imagery of Mouth attempting to find an opening in the cliques mirrors his attempts to make friends, and the description of the “dried corpses” foreshadows Mouth’s suicide attempt when he decides there is no escape for him from his loneliness and the endless bullying at school.

“The syllables shifted across several broken octaves, creating a noise that was somewhere between the creak of an ancient door hinge and the gasp an asthmatic kid makes when he gets punched in the gut.”

Lubar employs sound imagery in this description of Scott’s first and only attempt to greet Julia at the bus stop. His voice changes at that exact moment he says “Hi,” and the resulting noise is so horrific that he cannot face her. The incongruous comparison of his voice with a creaking door hinge or gasp of an asthmatic kid creates humor in an excruciatingly embarrassing moment for Scott.

“A couple of girls at the table frowned at me with the same sort of annoyed look you’d give a horsefly approaching a bowl of potato salad.”

In this metaphor, Scott compares himself to an insignificant insect when he stops to talk to Lee at the popular girl’s lunch table. The scorn of the other girls feeds his insecurity, and he rushes off instead of staying to accept Lee’s offer to bring him the vampire poem. The comparison is significant; Scott has already compared Mouth to bees and pegged Kyle as an insect killer, which means that Scott aligns himself more with Mouth as a victim than with Kyle, who is a destroyer.

“[...] suicide is not cool. It’s not heroic. It’s not romantic. It’s like running away. Abandoning your family. And leaving someone else to clean up your mess.”

Using an analogy comparing suicide to abandonment, Scott warns his younger sibling to not fall for romantic ideas about killing oneself. Lubar uses anaphora to evoke emotion in readers, emphasizing everything that suicide is not and nudging readers into understanding that suicide impacts loved ones.

“Actually, there was one thing I was really good at—being the youngest Hudson kid. I’d mastered the art. And now I was getting benched.”

This mixed metaphor, juxtaposing art and sports, underlines Scott’s confusion about the changing dynamic in his family. Scott isn’t sure what his role will be if he can’t be the youngest son; his familiarity with that role is compared to mastery of art, while his new role is compared to being benched in a sports game. Mixed metaphors create humor, which Scott relies on to alleviate his stress.

“Words were too important to be used like blobs of paint.”

Scott is frustrated with Lee’s locker signs, which she claims are meta-statements. In this analogy, Scott compares writing to painting; his irritation stems from his perception that the signs are meaningless. Scott’s emotions demonstrate his growing appreciation for the art of writing and contrast sharply with his earlier habit of throwing vocabulary words into his journal regardless of meaning.

“New Year is sort of like starting a new school. You can make all sorts of plans and promises about being better or changing your habits. Then you go on being yourself.”

Scott spends New Year’s Eve alone at home, reading. In writing this analogy to his baby brother, he points out how little has changed for him this year, which isn’t necessarily true. While Scott hasn’t broken into any cliques at school or changed significantly physically, he is changing. Like New Year’s resolutions, however, the reality falls far short of what he envisioned.

“I had to give him credit for being resilient. Nothing seemed to bother him. If I asked a girl to dance and she said no, I’d want to crawl into a hole and die.”

Lubar employs irony and foreshadowing in this statement, supporting the theme of Appearances Versus Reality: Seeing Beyond the Stereotypes. Scott sees only the facade that Mouth presents; he only appears resilient, but in actuality, the endless rejections add to his low self-esteem. While Scott uses hyperbole when he says he would die from all the rejection, the irony is that Mouth is actually thinking about suicide.

“Please don’t make a joke. If he said something stupid, I’d probably do something even more stupid. I really wasn’t in the mood to get tossed out of a speeding vehicle.”

Scott is pleading silently for Wesley not to make fun of Mouth’s suicide attempt, like so many other students are doing at the school. He respects Wesley and values his friendship, but he now feels an obligation to stand up for Mouth since Mouth cannot stand up for himself. The “something stupid” that Scott is contemplating would involve violence, but Lubar uses understatement to create a humorous image of Scott flying from the speeding car as a certain result of his chivalric actions.

“Standing there, I felt for the first time in ages that there were some things that weren’t changing.”

Lubar creates an interlude in the narrative in this section as Dad, Bobby, and Scott go fishing together on Opening Day. The timelessness of the river and the tradition of fishing together give Scott a sense of peace. He recognizes that even though momentous changes are taking place in the family and at school, some things, such as the brotherhood they share while fishing, will remain the same.

“Kyle was once my second-best friend. Bobby was once my flawless hero. Julia was once my kindergarten pal. And I was once my parent’s youngest son.

Unlike cars, lives don’t have a way to go in reverse.”

In this example of anaphora, Scott reflects on his changing relationships with his family and friends after the fight with Kyle. The repetition of “was once” emphasizes the losses that Scott has endured this year, while the comparison of life with cars signifies that while he has no way of returning to those past relationships, he will move forward.

“I’d spent a whole year hung up on a girl who would never be interested in me. And treated the one girl who wanted to go to the dance with me like she didn’t matter at all.”

In this example of irony, Scott turns down Julia when she asks him if he has a date for the dance. He chastises himself that Julia will think he’s a loser, but he also realizes that what makes him a loser is that he chased after her in the first place when he had a chance of a relationship with Lee the entire time. 

“[...] I took it as a good sign that she was talking about death.”

Lubar uses irony to create humor when Scott is relieved that Lee is talking about death. Lee hasn’t spoken to Scott since he treated her invitation to the dance as a joke. Considering Mouth’s suicide, Lee’s comments about dying should be cause for concern, but Scott recognizes now that Lee is too comfortable in her own skin to ever self-harm.

“I borrowed it.”

Wesley frequently tells Scott that he borrows vehicles, but Scott interprets his statement as a euphemism for stealing. This is an example of Scott misjudging people based on their appearances or reputations; because Wesley appears dangerous, Scott assumes that he is a thief.