67 pages • 2 hours read
Rodman PhilbrickThe Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A 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.
Symbols & Motifs
The Wider World
Homer hasn’t been farther than the next town over until his brother is kidnapped and Homer begins a journey to rescue him. This adventure is an eye-opener for Homer, whose character will grow and flourish during the story. Each new and surprising thing Homer experiences acts as a symbol, representing either that Homer’s attitude is shifting or that the plot is veering off in a new direction.
Stink’s terrible odor warns Homer of impending evil; Mr. Brewster’s beautiful home gives the boy a beacon of hope; the finely dressed passengers on a train that whisks through changing landscapes are Homer’s first views of a wider world, glimpses that encourage him forward. A balloon ride helps Homer escape from danger, but it also symbolizes his goodbye to one stage of his journey and his hurtling toward the next phase of his adventure. Homer also witnesses cannon blasts, wartime carnage, and the screams of the wounded; finally, he experiences direct participation in battle; each, in turn, stuns him into a new understanding and a new decision.
Names
A fig is something unimportant, as in, “I don’t give a fig,” and Homer P. Figg is a poor, abused, nobody of a boy. His first name evokes the classical poet Homer, who told of the Trojan War and the journeys of those who fought; likewise, Homer Figg also relates a story of his wartime journey. The name Homer Figg also hints at the name Huck Finn, another neglected boy in literature who goes on an adventurous quest.
Squinton Leach evokes the squinting suspicion of a bad person who leeches off of other people’s resources—in his case, Homer and Harold’s.
Jebediah means “beloved friend” in Hebrew, and this Biblical name rests comfortably on Mr. Brewster, who is deeply religious with a patriarchal beard and old-fashioned, kindly ways. Underground Railroad conductor Samuel Reed’s name conjures up the great Biblical prophet Samuel and the straight, upright nature of reeds.
Webster B. Willow is a tall, skinny, willowy preacher whose first name suggests dictionaries and book learning but not much in the way of wisdom. The “Web” in Webster symbolizes the tangle Homer gets into when traveling with the uncouth and gullible man, which Homer refers to as the “Trap by the name of Willow. The Reverend Webster B. Willow” (77).
Stink Mullins, so named because he never bathes and smells worse than a dead chicken, reeks whenever he’s near Homer, who makes a point of commenting on it as “the worst smell ever” (25). Stink’s smell symbolizes his evil personality, one that hasn’t been cleansed in so many years that it exudes a permanent odor of wickedness. Stink also is blind in one eye, which represents his stunted ability to see the world. His partner, Smelt, has a name redolent of the same bad odor; it also suggests his greed for money in the form of gold smelted down into coins.
The Nibblys will nibble away at one’s suspicions until they’re gone and one trusts them with money, which they’ll also nibble at until it’s gone.
Professor Fleabottom presents himself to audiences as a learned gentleman, but at “bottom” this stage name is full of fleas and amounts to nothing. His real name, Reginald Crockett, evokes American hero Davy Crockett, and, as Reginald, the professor returns to the South, fights bravely at the Battle of Gettysburg, and dies honorably. Minerva, the tattooed lady, is named for the Greek goddess of wisdom, arts, and healing; she helps Homer stay clean and nurses him back to consciousness when he slams into a tree.
The Amazing Pig Boy
Pigs are a recurring motif in the story. It begins with an ill-fed Homer, who lives in a barn and steals scraps intended for hogs. It continues when he is tossed into a pig crate to keep him from interfering with fraudsters as they separate Mr. Willow from his money. Professor Fleabottom notices Homer’s flare for entertainment when he snarls angrily at his pig-crate tormenters, and he hires Homer to reenact that moment nightly in the Caravan of Miracles.
Homer must deal with his abused sense of himself as someone who spent years being treated like an animal. His pig act is where he reconciles his old feelings of worthlessness with new feelings of power. In doing so, he transforms the old Homer into a new, prouder one that accepts his feral side and transforms it into something entertaining and thought-provoking.
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By Rodman Philbrick
