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Chapter 1
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
For the rest of the week, Roy sits in the front of the bus and looks for the running boy without success. But on Friday, when he’s given up, he glances up from his comic and sees the boy running. Just as the bus stops and Roy gets up to chase after the boy, Dana grips Roy around the neck and squeezes. Annoyed, Roy punches behind him, Dana cries out, and then Roy races off the bus, brushing past a tall blond girl as he does so. For several blocks, Roy pursues the boy. They run through a construction site and onto a golf course as Roy’s legs tire. Roy doesn’t see the golf ball until it hits him above his ear and knocks him to the ground.
Dana is objectively cruel and dangerous, but notice that Roy doesn’t seem genuinely afraid—he’s just upset he can’t chase after the running boy as easily. Once again, nobody comes to Roy’s rescue when Dana attacks, and Roy is also on his own to try to figure out what’s going on with the running boy. Notably absent, of course, is an adult response—the bus driver, who is ostensibly responsible for Roy’s safety, does nothing to either protect Roy from a bully or keep Roy on the bus.
Themes
It’s Roy’s own fault that Dana calls him “cowgirl.” Though Roy was born in Detroit, Michigan, he lived in Montana before coming to Florida and told his new classmates he was from Montana. Roy liked Montana better than anywhere else the Eberhardts have lived. In fact, he liked it so much that he tried to run away the night Roy’s father announced they were moving. Now, in vice principal Miss Hennepin’s office, Roy explains that he punched Dana because Dana was choking him to death. She says Dana told her Roy’s attack was unprovoked and the bus driver saw nothing, but Roy sarcastically says he punches big kids for fun and the driver was probably paying attention to the road.
Here, readers learn why Roy is having such a hard time adjusting to Florida: he much preferred Montana and didn’t want to move. Though Roy is being sarcastic with Miss Hennepin, he has a point: it doesn’t seem like any adults at school are willing to challenge Dana. It’s still unclear why this is, but Dana does seem to be pretty used to manipulating adults and getting his way. Readers know Roy is telling the truth, but to an adult who believes Dana’s tale, Roy comes off as snotty and like he’s the one telling stories.
Themes
Miss Hennepin isn’t convinced that Dana is a bully, since no other kids have complained. Roy argues that this is because everyone is too afraid of Dana to upset him (this is also why no kids will corroborate Roy’s story). Studying a black hair sprouting from Miss Hennepin’s upper lip, Roy says he ran because he’s scared of Dana. Miss Hennepin asks Roy to step closer. She inspects the lump above his ear and then turns down his shirt collar and says, “Hmm.” She says it seems like Roy learned his lesson, so she’s suspending him from the bus and he must write an apology letter to Dana. Roy tries not to look thrilled as he leaves her office. In the bathroom, he inspects his neck—Miss Hennepin certainly saw the bruises Dana left on Roy’s neck. And Roy did tell the truth, though he didn’t mention the running boy.
Miss Hennepin is trying to oversimplify things when she notes that kids haven’t complained about Dana, implying by extension that Dana isn’t really a bully. This makes it clear that Dana uses fear and intimidation to control his classmates and the administration alike. It seems, at first, like things might change when Miss Hennepin actually sees the bruises Dana left on Roy’s neck, which corroborate his story. But when she still suspends Roy from the bus and makes him apologize, it suggests there may be more to Dana than readers know yet. For some reason, Miss Hennepin is more willing to put kids like Roy in danger than she is to punish Dana and tell him to stop bullying others.
Themes
By now, it’s lunchtime. Roy eats his chili burger, but the cookie is disgusting. Just as he stands up, a strong hand lands on his shoulder. But it’s not Dana; it’s the blond girl from the bus. She tells Roy he could’ve hurt her this morning and asks why he ran. Roy is intimidated—this isn’t something he wants boys to see happening, and the girl is clearly a strong athlete. He insists he was trying to escape Dana, but the girl isn’t convinced. She backs Roy into the wall when Roy mentions the running boy with no shoes. Ominously, she tells Roy to mind his own business and then walks off.
The girl’s behavior is wildly confusing, to say nothing of intimidating: Roy is described as a pretty small kid, while this girl is, like Dana, big and strong. When Roy notes that he doesn’t really want boys to see the girl intimidate him, it shows he does care about making friends in Florida—or, at least, he cares about impressing other boys and looking reasonably strong and confident. As with Miss Hennepin and Dana, this girl also seems to know something about the running boy that she doesn’t want to share with Roy.
Themes
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