106 pages • 3 hours read
Gordon KormanSlacker
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Contributing to Something Greater
The theme of Contributing to Something Greater runs deep in the events of Slacker as the Positive Action Group makes an impact on both its members and the community they serve. Through the P.A.G.’s impact on Sycamore, the idea that personal fulfillment can result from contributing to something greater develops.
In Chapter 13, Cameron Boxer observes how one of his best friends, Chuck Kinsey, has completely embraced the P.A.G.’s mission during their first project and “was treating today like it was a real thing” (94) Chuck describes how being a pagger was “a higher purpose—a calling, almost”; He comes to understand that helping people “was good for other people, but it was even better for the guy doing the helping” (137-38).
Pavel Dysan also finds fulfillment in the P.A.G. In Chapter 17, after spending a day cleaning up a local park with the rest of the organization, Pavel takes note of the difference they’ve made and expresses, “I never realized what a dump it was until I saw it all cleaned up. We did that. It wouldn’t have happened without us” (121). Pavel and Chuck go from enjoying self-serving activities like gaming to finding fulfillment in their contributions to something greater. The fulfillment Pavel and Chuck find in helping others contributes to the idea that working toward a greater good is beneficial on a personal level.
Both String Mcbean and Xavier Meggett join the P.A.G. out of necessity to fulfill their own needs. String joins to get back on the football team, and Xavier joins to complete his court-ordered community service. However, for both, the P.A.G. becomes a source of fulfillment. In Chapter 23, after the P.A.G. has been disbanded, Xavier tells Cam, “When we had the P.A.G., I woke up in the morning and the day was about something! I had something to do, and it was important. Now—it’s like I’m just killing time” (166). Xavier’s fulfillment through community service shows how contributing to something greater than oneself can lead to personal growth.
String also goes through the same transition as Xavier. At the beginning of the book, String’s only interest is football; during the first P.A.G. meeting, String “was leafing through a football playbook” (81). However, once the P.A.G. begins its projects, String uses his competitive nature to throw himself into the work. After the P.A.G.’s disbandment, String returns to his life as a football star. However, during what should’ve been his greatest moment, String feels “something was missing” (178). He laments, “The String used to be part of something off the chain—something that wasn’t just numbers on a scoreboard. The P.A.G. made a difference” (179). Like Xavier, String learns the value in contributing to an organization that makes an impact on their community.
Though it takes longer to see it, ironically, eventually Cam realizes that gaming “wasn’t everything. It wasn’t my family, my friends, my school, my town” (229). The idea of contributing to something greater as a means of fulfillment is communicated as the Positive Action Group morphs the lives of its other members and gives them purpose.
The Importance of Community
The Importance of Community theme is developed through the way the P.A.G. revitalizes the town of Sycamore, culminating in a standoff on the town’s freeway exit as everyone comes together to save the community. The freeway exit works as a motif to help develop this theme as the novel progresses.
Sycamore’s struggling community is first introduced by Daphne Leibowitz in Chapter 3. She explains that “the whole problem with Sycamore [is that] Nobody cared […] about anything” (23). The economy is struggling because “the mall sucked all the business away from Main Street” (23). The Department of Transportation is planning to demolish Sycamore’s freeway exit because “Our whole community wasn’t worth the cost of a little shoring up and road work” (23), and Daphne fears the small businesses would “close one by one, leaving downtown an empty shell” (23). Daphne’s assessment of the state of Sycamore creates an image of a community in disrepair. With the mall outcompeting local businesses, the impending demolition of the freeway ramp, and the lack of care from those in the community, Sycamore’s community is falling apart.
Mr. Fanshaw narrates, “These were tough times in Sycamore, with the new mall sucking the economic life out of the town” (37). Mr. Fanshaw becomes excited about the idea of the P.A.G. because “If there was ever a community that needed a boost, it was Sycamore” (114), adding that the destruction of the freeway ramp “would be a huge blow to the local businesses” (114). As the Positive Action Group grows, it begins to make an impact on the community of Sycamore, having “restored our Village Green to its former glory, run a successful toy drive for Sycamore Children’s Hospital, and volunteered in the kitchen for Meals on Wheels” (123). Reporter Audra Klincker later writes, “The Positive Action Group has done so much good for this town” (138), showing the widespread and public impact that the P.A.G. has had on Sycamore.
The P.A.G.’s influence helps the community of Sycamore come together. In Chapter 28, Cam announces the plan for the P.A.G. to stop the ramp demolition. He announces “the Division of Highways is going to knock down our exit ramp, and everybody thinks there’s nothing we can do about it. But what the P.A.G. taught us is there’s never nothing we can’t do” (202). Cam’s decision to reunite the P.A.G. and protect the exit ramp shows how he’s learned the value of his community. However, Cam is wrong about the fact that “everybody thinks there’s nothing we can do” (202) because when the P.A.G. and Friends of Fuzzy arrive at the exit ramp on Saturday morning, they find “our parents, our teachers, storekeepers, doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, mail carriers, waitresses, and short-order cooks” packed onto the freeway exit, having beaten the kids to the protest. Cam’s parents explain, “We were so wound up in what was happening to our business that it never occurred to us to try to do something about it. It took you kids to show us that” (221).
The P.A.G.’s community service has such an impact on the town of Sycamore that it motivates the community to unite against a direct threat to their livelihood. After hours protesting on the ramp, they manage to drive off the demolition crew. The joint effort of everyone in Sycamore successfully saving the town from economic ruin shows that community is an important thing to have and that united a community can accomplish great things. Not only do the people of Sycamore come together as a community to defend their town, they demonstrate the importance of community by showing what they could accomplish as a united front.
Cooperation Versus Competition
Competition and cooperation are present in many forms throughout the novel. The merits of cooperation versus competition are explored through the student body presidential race, Cam’s rivalry with Evil McKillPeople, and the war between the P.A.G. and Friends of Fuzzy. Ultimately, the novel communicates how cooperation is a more productive route than competition.
The largest example of the way competition can be an unhealthier route than cooperation is in the way the Friends of Fuzzy treats the Positive Action Group as their rivals. As the leader of the Friends of Fuzzy, Jennifer Del Rio takes it upon herself to begin a war against the P.A.G. to protect her community service opportunities. Jennifer is trying to get into Harvard, and she wants “[e]very piece of civic service, or charity, or good citizenship that could possibly happen in a one-horse town like Sycamore” to be on her resume (110). Jennifer’s assault on the P.A.G. begins small.
However, when the P.A.G. only continues to grow in size and influence, Jennifer becomes angrier. She and Tony recruit the rest of the Friends of Fuzzy to begin a full-scale sabotage effort. They undo the deeds done by the P.A.G., and vandalize sites visited by the P.A.G., leaving clues like graffiti that says “PAGGERS RULE” to frame the P.A.G. (139). Eventually, the P.A.G. is disbanded due to the bad publicity. Jennifer’s perceived competition with the Positive Action Group leads to results counterproductive to goals of both the Positive Action Group and the Friends of Fuzzy.
However, Jennifer gains a new perspective on the benefits of cooperation in Chapter 30, when Daphne suddenly hands over Elvis. Daphne and Jennifer are fighting over the right to save Elvis, but this causes more harm to the beaver. When Daphne realizes this, she hands Elvis over to Jennifer because “[s]he loved him that much that she was willing to lose—in front of everybody she knew—just to keep him safe” (217). Jennifer realizes the importance of doing the right thing and decides to follow Daphne’s wishes of taking Elvis to a vet instead of to Audra Klincker. Jennifer’s decision to cooperate with the P.A.G. shows how cooperation leads to greater outcomes than competition. On a broader scale, the Friends of Fuzzy also learned the benefits of cooperation by uniting with the P.A.G. and the rest of Sycamore to defend the town’s freeway ramp.
Jordan Toleffsen’s student body presidential race against his opponent Kelly also develops the theme of cooperation versus competition. During Jordan’s introduction, he’s upset that Kelly is gaining a lead on him by employing dubious tactics, like recruiting a seventh-grader named Jordana to run against Jordan and split the vote. Jordan joins the P.A.G. to get an edge on Kelly, but when the P.A.G. grows, Kelly and Jordana join too. The three candidates working together teaches them that their competition against one another could be solved, and even improved, with cooperation. In Chapter 23, Jordan and Kelly have resolved their conflict. Jordan explains, “Kelly and I have decided to share the top job and be co-presidents, with Jordana serving as treasurer” (162). He goes on to say, “We were wasting so much energy tearing each other down […] But in the P.A.G., you showed us the power of cooperation” (162). The resolution of the presidential campaign develops the idea that cooperation is more beneficial than competition.
Finally, the merits of cooperation over competition develop through Cam’s rivalry with Evil McKillPeople. In the beginning, Cam describes how Evil McKillPeople “had been stalking me online for months, foiling my Normandy invasions, sacking my quarterbacks, forcing my chariots out of the Circus Maximus, and battering me with steel chairs in extreme wrestling matches” (3). Cam has never beat Evil McKillPeople in a game, and he’s driven by his competition with this foe. Cam’s focus on beating Evil McKillPeople begins the story’s conflict when he nearly burns his house down while in battle. Throughout the story, Cam worries about losing his edge against Evil McKillPeople.
However, once Cam discovers that Melody has been Evil McKillPeople all along, they begin to work together. Not only does Melody help Cam set up the final P.A.G. meeting so they can save the freeway ramp, but Cam chooses Melody as his partner for Rule the World, explaining, “When you were facing Rule the World-level competition, you needed someone like Evil McKillPeople on your side” (230). Cam and Melody both learn the power of cooperation once they’ve resolved their conflicts, and their Rule the World team is stronger for it. Cam and Melody working out their differences shows how cooperation can lead to stronger outcomes than competition.
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