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Chapter 2
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
Officer Delinko is once again called out to the Mother Paula’s construction site, where Curly shows him the pulled-out stakes and the filled holes. Curly then leads Officer Delinko to a flatbed truck with flat tires—though Officer Delinko notes that the air has just been let out of them. Officer Delinko promises to speak to his sergeant about adding patrols to the area, and he then notices the portable toilets strapped onto the flatbed. He asks to take a look at them, though Curly insists nobody would mess with a toilet. Inside one of the toilets, everything seems fine—until Officer Delinko hears a splash. He shines his flashlight into the toilet hole and promptly leaps out of the toilet. There are live alligators in the tanks.
At this point in the narrative, the vandalism at the construction site mostly adds humor—it’s not yet apparent how this connects to Roy, the novel’s protagonist. Interestingly, the vandal seems more interested in slowing things down and generally causing mayhem than in actually destroying things. This is especially clear when Delinko notes that someone just let the air out of the truck’s tires rather than slashing them. The alligators, though, are certainly an escalation—they could’ve hurt someone if Delinko hadn’t found them first.
Themes
When Roy gets home from school, he has to tell his parents about the incident with Dana. Mr. Eberhardt tells Roy it’s never okay to fight, but Roy maintains he only punched Dana in self-defense. Mrs. Eberhardt reveals that Roy broke Dana’s nose. To Roy’s surprise, his dad looks proud. Roy pulls down his shirt collar to reveal the bruises Dana left and says that Miss Hennepin knows about them, but she didn’t punish Dana at all. Mr. Eberhardt is angry and asks for Dana’s name. Roy hesitates. His dad works for the Department of Justice, and Roy doesn’t want Dana to get in that much trouble, since he’s just a “big stupid bully.” Mr. Eberhardt assures Roy that Dana won’t be arrested, but he must be disciplined.
Roy’s parents’ reactions are a bit confusing for Roy to navigate: Mr. Eberhardt says fighting is inappropriate but seems quietly pleased Roy fought, for instance. What matters most to Roy, however, is the injustice of it all. He has bruises around his neck and a bus suspension, while Dana has nothing. Still, Roy doesn’t want to just get Dana in trouble for kicks; he recognizes that sending his dad and the entire U.S. Department of Justice after Dana is overkill.
Themes
As Roy sits in his bedroom thinking about his apology letter to Dana, he studies his poster of a bull rider on a bull and another warning Yellowstone tourists not to approach buffalo, lest the buffalo gore them. Dana is exactly the sort of person to approach a wild buffalo and expect it to go well. Roy writes his letter. In it, he apologizes for breaking Dana’s nose and promises not to hit Dana again, so long as Dana stops bothering Roy on the bus. When Roy shows it to Mrs. Eberhardt, she says the tone is too “forceful.” But Mr. Eberhardt says it’s perfect.
As Roy (and Mr. Eberhardt) sees it, he has nothing to apologize for except for causing Dana so much physical pain. He’s only writing the letter, after all, because Miss Hennepin told him to—and Roy doesn’t exactly take Miss Hennepin seriously or respect her opinion after she chose to punish him instead of Dana. This shows how Roy and his dad are more interested in real justice rather than the appearance of justice.
Themes
Things aren’t going well for the police captain. He moved to Coconut Cove, Florida after a career in Boston, figuring he’d work a few easy years and retire. But now, Officer Delinko is telling him about finding six alligators in the portable toilets. Delinko’s sergeant adds that the reptile wrangler got the alligators out. The captain shakes his head. He’s only involved because the Mother Paula’s people called Councilman Grandy, who then chewed out the local police force. The captain asks why kids would vandalize this construction site, and Officer Delinko says he’s not sure this is kids—what kid can handle a four-and-a-half-foot gator? Delinko thinks it’s a rival pancake house out for revenge, though there’s no rival pancake house in Coconut Cove. Officer Delinko asks to work the extra patrols around the construction site, even if it’s unpaid. He just wants to solve the mystery.
There are several clues here that suggest corruption runs rampant in Coconut Cove: the captain, who clearly doesn’t want to have to care about a silly vandal, is forced to get involved because someone on city council, who’s somehow close to the Mother Paula’s corporation, made him. This implies there’s some untoward relationship between Mother Paula’s and Councilman Grandy, which will be important to keep in mind for later. Also important here is Delinko’s burning desire to solve the mystery and prove himself. He, like Roy, is curious about what’s going on, and he’s not thinking more critically yet about the vandal’s motive.
Themes
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