Slacker

Slacker was released in 2016, which was a tumultuous time for small towns in America. Many small towns were still recovering from or had failed to recover from the 2008 recession, leaving small business owners fighting to stay afloat amidst economic inflation, competition with large businesses and online shopping, and crumbling infrastructure. The town of Sycamore demonstrates these struggles as the businesses on Main Street begin to dwindle and fail, losing business to the new mall and struggling to keep up with the way technology has impacted shoppers. These problems are compounded by the Department of Transportation’s plans to demolish the freeway exit leading to the heart of Sycamore. This exit has been in disrepair for years, and rather than invest in fixing it, the Department of Transportation has chosen to do away with it altogether. The next closest exit is brand new and drives consumers straight into the shopping mall, showing how infrastructural funding favors large businesses and neglects to invest in the infrastructure that keeps small towns alive. 

The smalltown setting of Sycamore influences one of the overarching conflicts of the novel as well as the protagonist himself. Cameron Boxer’s parents own a furniture store on Main Street, and they worry about what will become of their family business once the freeway exit is demolished. They have tried to appeal to online customers but have not managed to build the profile necessary. On top of that, the struggling economy of Sycamore makes it to where there are not many people in town with money to spend on new furniture, even when offered sales and promotions to ease the burden. The tension surrounding the town’s economies and the fate of the town’s small businesses once the freeway exit is demolished grows as the novel progresses, with multiple characters mentioning it in relation to Sycamore’s struggling community. This conflict drives the action in the last seven chapters of the novel as protagonist Cameron Boxer realizes the impact the freeway demolition will have on his family and the stress that his parents are under.

The Positive Action Group’s success is also influenced by the small-town setting of Sycamore. Sycamore is a community in decline, so the addition of an organization full of motivated young people ready to serve their community makes a much more significant impact than the same organization in a larger urban setting. Sycamore noticeably changes with the P.A.G.’s efforts, which becomes an uplifting factor for everyone in the community. The members of the P.A.G. begin to observe the good they’ve done because they’re cleaning up and fixing up locations they see every day. The impact of the P.A.G. spreads rapidly to those outside the organization because not only are their projects making a tangible, observable difference in the community, but the smalltown newspaper takes an active interest in reporting about their projects. The P.A.G.’s influence on their small community ultimately motivates the adults of Sycamore to value the community more, culminating in the final showdown on the freeway ramp, where the entire population of Sycamore shows up to defend their exit ramp from destruction, citing the Positive Action Group as their motivation.