Misfits
10/12/11
Respect. This is a universal word that makes the world better everyday. It bonds people as friends. It makes peace. Respect is the glue that keeps everyone together peacefully. The Misfits by James Howe is about a group of kids who suffer from name calling at their school. They aren’t popular, they’re different from everyone else, and they all have their personal issues. So when a chance for change arises as the election for class president come around, they try to start a new party. But when their first campaign doesn’t work, their next shot, thought of by our main character Bobby Goodspeed; Is called the no name-party. A party especially made for the elimination of bad names. Will they succeed?
The main character Bobby Goodspeed is an all around good-hearted person. And though he is a very respectful person, he has a few flaws during the story that he later resolves. Bobby doesn’t always show respect. An example of when Bobby doesn’t show respect is with Mr. Kellermen. Bobby judged him and secretly called him “Killerman”. He also was annoyed when Mr. Kellermen was trying to teach him about tie combinations. (pg 90) Mr. Kellermen was only being disgruntled because of his hard times. Mr. Kellermen starts to be nice to him later in the story. Bobby shouldn’t have judged a book by its cover. Bobby disrespected Mr. Kellermen even though he was only being grumpy because he felt bad about his life. He was just lonely and sad. Another person Bobby didn’t respect was himself. He was afraid to ask Kelsy Scoggins out at first, and he was afraid to defend himself when bullies called him names all those years. But then he spoke up for his cause and it paid off. What this shows is that sometimes you need to take risk to get farther in life.
Being disrespectful isn't Bobby’s only quality. But actually a rare aspect of his character. An example of a way that Bobby is actually respectful is when he convinced Ms. Wyman to let them start a third party because he respected her. What this made me thought was that people react better to respect than to a forceful demand like what Addie was doing. Another example is that he learned to respect himself. He stood up and told them all his speech, and he went to the dance with Kelsey. What this shows is that he learned to respect himself and got a positive outcome which makes him better and happier as a person.
Bobby’s people person personality reminds me of some the important people in history, like Abe Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr. They both were successful as people, and successful because They were able to show respect. Because they knew how to relate to people and make them understand exactly what they're trying to say. Abe Lincoln used respect to convince people that slavery was wrong. Martin Luther King Jr. used respect to convince people that every man, no matter what color, is equal. And all three of these historical men, real or not, made a change.