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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hoot, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Conservation and the Natural World
Bullying and Corruption
Morality, the Law, and Protest
Parenting and Support
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Beatrice saved Roy from Dana—she stripped Dana to his underwear and tied him to the flagpole. She then stole a bike, made Roy get on the handlebars, and they’re now pedaling quickly for Roy’s house. Roy can tell she’s upset, and she says she needs a favor. She needs first-aid supplies and can’t get them at her house. Mrs. Eberhardt opens the door and is thrilled that Roy has brought home a friend. Beatrice tells her that they’re working on a messy science experiment and they’ll do it at her house. While Mrs. Eberhardt fixes snacks, Roy grabs first-aid supplies. When he returns to the kitchen, Beatrice says they forgot the ground beef for the experiment. Mrs. Eberhardt says Beatrice can have the two pounds of beef in her fridge and sends the kids on their way.
Tying Dana to the flagpole is not only extremely satisfying—he’s finally gotten his comeuppance—but it also suggests that there are kids at school, namely Beatrice, who can take on Dana when they have enough motivation to do so. However, things then become a bit more concerning. Beatrice never says, for instance, why she can’t get first-aid supplies at her house. Are there no first-aid items there, or would she get in trouble for taking whatever is there? In any case, thanks to Roy’s positive and trusting relationship with Mrs. Eberhardt, he and Beatrice are able to get what they need.
Themes
Beatrice lives with her father, Leon Leep. A former pro basketball player, he retired young. Beatrice’s mom divorced Leon and two years later, Leon got engaged to a woman named Lonna. Though Leon tried to connect with Lonna’s son, Mullet Fingers, they had nothing in common (Leon liked TV, while Mullet Fingers liked wild animals). Things came to a head when Mullet Fingers brought home an orphaned baby raccoon. Though Leon didn’t seem perturbed, Lonna sent her son to a military school. Mullet Fingers has now been sent to several, and he only lasts a few weeks before running away. When he ran away from the last school, Lonna didn’t tell Leon. She doesn’t know where her son is and doesn’t care; she’s “fed up with the little monster.” The only person who knows Mullet Fingers is in town is Beatrice, who’s been looking out for her little brother.
This passage helps explain why Beatrice has been so protective of Mullet Fingers: she doesn’t want Lonna to find out he’s in town. The siblings have little or no support at home, as Leon seems fully checked out (though with good or at least neutral intentions) and Lonna seems shockingly cruel and even dangerous. Leon and Lonna’s differing, questionable parenting habits feed off each other, though: Lonna’s cruelty puts Mullet Fingers in potential danger, while Leon being so distant and uninvolved means he has no idea that as a legal guardian to a kid, he should probably step in and figure out where his stepson is. And this combination means Beatrice—a preteen herself—is taking on an adult role. This seems to influence her rough and frightening demeanor at school, as she doesn’t have any adults to truly support her.
Themes
Beatrice shares this with Roy on their bike ride to the abandoned ice cream truck. Inside, Mullet Fingers is sweaty, feverish, and has a purple arm. With prodding, he tells Roy that dogs bit him. Roy and Beatrice clean and dress the wounds, and Roy insists Mullet Fingers needs a tetanus shot. Mullet fingers ignores this and with more prodding from Beatrice, says there were four dogs behind a chain-link fence. He stands and says that since Beatrice got the hamburger, they need to go—and he races away. Roy notices that Mullet Fingers is wearing the sneakers. Beatrice tells Roy to get back on the handlebars, but Roy says he’ll have no part in poisoning dogs. Beatrice laughs; they won’t poison any dogs.
This passage as much as confirms that Mullet Fingers is the Mother Paula’s vandal—and that playing this role isn’t without risk. Since Roy doesn’t yet know why Mullet Fingers is targeting the site, he feels like he must make it really clear that he’s not interested in doing anything cruel or illegal—his well-developed moral compass won’t stand for poisoning dogs who were just doing their job. However, it’s worth noting that Mullet Fingers seems to not have done anything thus far that actually hurts any animals, so poisoning dogs in the first place seems somewhat out of character.
Themes
Beatrice bikes to the construction site where Curly yelled at Roy the other day. Roy asks if this is connected to the spray-painted police car and the gators in the toilets, but Beatrice says nothing. Mullet Fingers is already there and reaches for the beef, but Roy won’t let him have it without an explanation. Mullet Fingers scales the fence—the dogs are gone—and tells Roy and Beatrice to follow. Sitting in a bulldozer’s blade, Roy asks why Mullet Fingers cares so much if they build a pancake house here. At this, inexplicably, Beatrice and Mullet Fingers explain that the dogs bit Mullet Fingers when he was reaching through the fence to put cottonmouths on the site; the snakes’ mouths were taped shut and once the dogs were gone, Mullet Fingers retrieved the snakes and set them free somewhere safe.
As Mullet Fingers and Beatrice explain what Mullet Fingers has been up to, it’s important to note that Mullet Fingers has done nothing to hurt any of the animals he’s handled. His goal, this implies, isn’t to cause pain, though what he wants to get out of this vandalism is still a mystery. Finally, while the bulldozer isn’t doing anything right now, this passage draws attention to how huge and ominous it is when it describes three preteens comfortably sitting in its blade. The bulldozer represents development, and for now, it seems like development is going to win out over a few kids.
Themes
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Roy still doesn’t get what this has to do with a pancake house, so Mullet Fingers asks for the hamburger. He rolls the beef into meatballs and quietly leads Roy to a hole in the ground. Mullet Fingers places meatballs next to several holes around the property and then leads him back to Beatrice and the bulldozer. Soon, Roy hears cooing and Mullet Fingers excitedly points to a tiny owl studying a meatball. Roy understands now.
Mullet Fingers isn’t messing with the site for fun: he’s trying to save the small owls that live on the prospective building site. Note that the owls (which are only eight or nine inches tall) look particularly tiny next to the construction equipment. This makes them more sympathetic, and also highlights that they need people like Mullet Fingers, Beatrice, and Roy to speak up for them.
Themes
