The Labors of Hercules Beal

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapters 12-14

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Mindy

Mindy, Hercules’s dog, symbolizes comfort and loyalty. From the moment the boy meets the stray, he feels solace in her companionship. This sentiment extends to others as well: At Beal Brothers Farm and Nursery, she greets customers “like she want[s] to be best friends […] and pad[s] quietly up to them, so that even little kids who [are] afraid of dogs […] come from behind their parents and put a hand out for Mindy to lick” (23). Mindy’s eagerness to be friends with anyone is marked by amiability and joy as well as keen perception, evident in her gentle approach to scared children. This behavior puts people at ease, and even those who are terrified of her find comfort in her presence.

Mindy also has a calming effect on Hercules, which he hints at when he contemplates Mrs. Savage’s lesson about looking at something in the right light. When he considers Mindy, he concludes that “any light at all” will reveal her nature (50). By noting that she is truly herself in any situation, or any light, Hercules suggests that she is a comfort to him because he knows the dog will always be there. This reliability is underscored when she greets him after school. Hercules comments, “Do I have to tell you how cool it is to be in a pack of 120 kids […] and to see your dog sprint her way through them all to come to you and only you?” (197). Without fail, every day, she weaves her way through everyone to see Hercules, proving her loyalty to the boy. In turn, he calls this “cool” because it is a comfort for him to know that she will always find him, no matter what.

Pirate Cat

Pirate Cat, the one-eyed feline that Hercules adopts, represents false assumptions and is a motif that develops the theme of The Benefits of a Shifted Perspective. When Hercules first sees the cat, he repeatedly calls her “really ugly” and is terrified of her when she lures him and Mindy into an ambush of the Ugly Cat Pack. However, when he is left alone with the one-eyed cat, he hears purring and realizes that the cat is much different than the monster he initially saw. When he notices that “Pirate Cat was covered in this glowing silver light,” he sees her with fresh eyes, picks her up, and “somewhere deep down inside something [gets] a little looser” (71). Seeing her literally and figuratively in a new light gives Hercules the added benefit of feeling something ease up inside of him. Although he cannot articulate it at this point in the narrative, his connection with the animal lessens his pain. Later, when the Ugly Cat Pack hunts outside, inside, “Pirate Cat […] snuggle[s] into [Mindy] and [they] sort of inch up around [Hercules’s] pillow and fall asleep together” (222). The antithesis of the aggressive, intimidating pack, Pirate Cat snuggles with love against Mindy and the boy, proving once again that if Hercules looks at something in a new light, it might be much different than he initially expects.

Weather

Weather is a symbol of the sharp turns that life takes. When Hercules and his friends paint the sugar maple tree’s leaves to simulate beautiful fall foliage, the weather conditions shift. Hercules notes that this happens frequently, and “depending on the tide, there are days when the sky can go from a bright blue to a white fog […] One minute you’re in the bright sun, the next you’re all wet and drippy” (111). Weather on the Cape, like life, can shift quickly. The shift in conditions mirrors the shift in their luck. At first giddy that the plan to attract leaf peepers is working, the kids become distraught when damp fog causes paint to drip off the leaves.

Weather’s symbolism is underscored when Mrs. Neal is trapped under her house during a storm. When Hercules runs outside, he notes “how the wind can come at you like a living thing. How it can punch at you, and slap you back, and pick up sand and drive it right into your face, and how the rain can be so cold and hit you from every single direction so that you can’t hardly see” (128). The personification of the wind emphasizes how powerful and destructive nature can be, which is representative of how life can pummel a person with terrible things. In this case, the Neals are the victims of their house unexpectedly collapsing, but Hercules has also endured sudden tragedy when his parents died and when Achilles is hurt. In fact, the night Achilles is hospitalized, “just like that, the waves started to break onto the beach like they were in agony” (330). Again, the personification of the waves in pain reveals just how treacherous and wild they are literally, but it also represents the agony Hercules feels at having to endure another tragedy. Furthermore, the waves shift quickly, “just like that,” denoting how fast circumstances can change. This represents how Achilles’s accident shocks his brother. Ultimately, the wild alterations in the weather mirror the unpredictable nature of life.