Character Change Character Analysis
Intro:
The main character in Crash by Jerry Spinelli is a young boy named John Coogan, who everyone calles “Crash”. Crash is an
13 year old boy who is trying to discover who he is.
The story mostly takes place in a middle school in Pennsylvania. The problem evolves when Crash, a popular football star and the stereotypical bully, starts to have feelings for other people including, Scooter, his sick grandfather, and Penn Webb, his dorky neighbor. At first, Crash is a middle school boy who is consumed with looking cool and will do anything to prove he is better than everyone. This includes putting mustard in Penn’s shoes and intimidating and making fun of Jane, a girl he has a crush on, at a middle school dance. However, by the end of the story, Crash begins to evaluate who he truly his. He wonders if he is this football star who will do anything to win? He ponders if he is this bully who gets joy out of taunting and torturing those he perceives as weak. And he evaluates why he was scared to become someone different someone new. Someone who the name “Crash” didn’t seem to fit anymore.
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The story begins with Crash being introduced as the tough bully who is bothered by his parent’s lack of involvement in his life. Spinelli introduces Crash as the bully right away in the scene where Crash and Penn first meet. When Crash first meets Penn he is wearing a button which reads, “Hi, I’m a flickertail.” On page 4 Crash “plucked the silly button off his shirt and dumped it in the hole he was digging, and covered it up with dirt. He stomped and flatted the dirt with his foot.” This is followed by numerous bullying events such as leaving a meatball on Penn, the vegetarians, doorstep, putting mustard in Penn’s shoes, and making fun of the fact Penn wears clothes from the Second hand store and is on the cheerleading squad. However, when Scooter, Crash’s beloved grandfather ends up in the hospital Crash starts to have a change in heart. Before Scooter came to live with Crash and his family Crash really had no one to look after him, or who he perceived loved him. For example, on page 48 Spinelli describes one of the only scenes where the family is spending family time together. It is kind of an impromptu gathering where they all sit and have a meal of steak sandwiches together. After the meal Abby, Crash’s sister, “raised her arms and swung around with a grin as big as a hoagie roll. ‘We all ate a meal together!’” From this statementSpinelli is hoping the reader will infer that the family rarely spends anytime together and this is a special occasion. Then one day Scooter comes to live with the family to support the Crash’s parents and provide the much needed help love to the children. Scooter is Crash’s mother’s father, Crash’s grandfather. Crash only feels safe in Scooter’s bed listening to Scooter tell stories. On page 74 it says, “Scooter’s bed was the safest place in the world, like a boat in a sea full of crocs.” So it is no wonder that Crash’s world and personal identity start to crumble when Scooter ends up in the hospital after a stroke.
After that, Crash begins to start to show signs of change. Crash starts to do more selfless acts like frantically trying to buy a present for Scooter, making catfish cakes for his little sister and easing up on the bullying of Penn.
One day, while Crash was hanging out with his bullying cohort Mike Deluca, he sees Penn come to his front door and leave a package with a note. On page 118 the note reads: “There is legend about Missouri River mud where we used to live. I have told it to your grandson, John. I am sure he will be pleased to tell it to you.” Crash starts to see Penn in a different light. He sees him as a person who is willing to do anything to make others feel better, even if it means giving up one of his most prized possessions.
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After that, Crash does more and more to help Penn. He defends him when Mike hides Penn’s essay, he gets back Penn’s turtle Thomas, and he encourages Penn to do better at track. On page 156 while Crash and Penn are tied in a race Crash yells, “’Lean!’ He (Penn) leaned, he threw his chest out, he broke the string. He won.”
At the end of the story, Crash has to come to terms with losing the race, as well as the reason he lost the race to Penn. Crash had always been the boy who had to win. He felt he always had to win to get the attention of his parents and peers. But now with his mom home and the lesson he learned from Penn to put others before yourself, Crash truly changes. On page 158 it says, “’And the anchor leg was Penn Webb, who brought the team from last to second.’ I (Crash) could her cheers from his homeroom down the hall. Inside, I cheered too.” At the beginning of the storyif Penn had beat Crash in a race Crash would have been jealous and would have bullied Penn unmercifully, but instead now due to his change of heart, Crash cheered for him.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusionCrash was an insecure boy who made himself feel better by becoming the best at football and track and by bullying others. However, the love of Scooter and the fear of losing him sparks a change in Crash. Also, through Penn’s act of selflessness of giving up the Mississippi Mud and wanting to be kind to everyone and everything Crash learns that the key to happiness might be to make other’s lives better. At the end of the storyJohn “Crash” Coogan is a boy that grew and changed from an angry, unhappy bully to someone who puts others before him. And that is what he learns is truly the way to finding happiness in life.