Characteristics of Tony Earley’s Writing
One characteristic of Tony Earley’s voice is his use of a foil character to reveal the main character. In Jim the Boy, the protagonist Jim, recognizes his inner arrogance and prejudiced attitude toward mountain boys and the smallness of his own world, because of Penn, a foil to Jim.
When Jim visits Penn to see if Penn, who has polio, is okay, Jim is astonished that Penn’s house "[i]s considerably bigger than he . . . thought it would be" (200). "During the times Penn ha[s] edged him in one competition or another, [Jim has] t[a]ken secret solace in that assumption" (201) that his house is better. On the mountain, Jim is shocked by what he sees. His rudimental thought that the mountain boys are hicks suddenly changes with suspect that the
actual hick is the town boy, Jim, himself. Jim’s arrogant consideration about typical mountain people becomes wrong by watching Penn’s great house. He realizes that he, the "town boy" has discriminated the "mountain boy."When Jim enters Penn’s house, he sees two pictures of Penn. One is when Penn and Mrs. Carson are at steps of Independent Hall in Philadelphia last summer. Jim thinks it is pretty interesting. However, the second picture is when Penn visits the astonishing city, Manhattan, of which "Jim ha[s] never imagined . . . could be so big" (203). He says "Gosh" (203), showing his obvious astonishment. Jim sees "Penn and Mr. Carson grinn[ing] extravagantly" (202), making him feel like they are laughing at him "from what seems to be the edge of the world" (202), the top of the Empire State Building. After Jim finishes looking at the pictures, he "look[s] up at Mrs. Carson and blink[s]" (202), showing that he has blanked out. He tries to think of some great place he has been but Penn hasn’t, so he can tell her about it. However, he can’t think of anyplace.
He is not only surprised that Penn has a better house, but also has had better experiences than he. Jim "suddenly fe[e]l[s] ashamed and small" (203), for Penn has had more life experience than he has. Penn’s pictures contain irony in that Penn is living on the mountain, which is less developed, and Jim lives in town, which is supposedly more developed than the mountain. Jim’s observation of Penn’s pictures shows Jim’s secret prejudice toward Penn even more obviously than before.
Throughout Jim the Boy, Jim, the protagonist, has had a rivalry with the foil character, Penn, and has thought himself superior. However, at the end of last chapter, he finally recognizes his pointless pride and realizes some important teachings. In our daily lives, we too see people who have a mind like Jim’s. I suggest this book for those who discriminate against other races or who assume someone is inferior just by what he or she looks like on the outside. By reading this book, it is an opportunity to learn from Jim’s experience so that we would not regret as Jim does. In other words, readers should apply this protagonist’s lesson to make a better community or environment around themselves and not just stop at observing or understanding his change.
Work Cited
Earley, Tony. Jim the Boy. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.