The Season of Styx Malone

Styx Malone is a 16-year-old Black boy who has spent years in the foster care system. The Department of Child Services (DCS) has been in control of his placements for at least the time since he was taken from Mr. Pike’s guardianship after three years, and likely earlier. Styx wears a convincing façade: He is smooth-talking, cool and suave, and full of wise-sounding aphorisms. The casual observer might look askance at Styx’s less obvious traits and assume, like Mom, that the difficulties he has experienced left him “a little rough around the edges” (135), but Styx also reveals underlying emotions that are fraught with sadness, bitterness, and fear. When Caleb and Bobby Gene first encounter Styx in the woods, Styx grabs and immobilizes Bobby Gene because he is afraid: “his expression didn’t seem mean. He seemed…scared” (20). Later, Caleb also sees the pain in Styx’s eyes and voice when DCS moves Pixie to a new foster home and his hurt and betrayal on learning that Caleb and Bobby Gene cannot be near him any longer.

No mention is made of the details that drove Styx to run away from Mr. Pike’s house nine times, but that he returned on his own volition speaks volumes about his emotional needs and desires. Magoon’s portrayal of Styx suggests that he does not hold a grudge, especially if a misunderstanding is explained; this is evidenced with Styx’s quick forgiveness of Mr. Pike when he arrives to take him home and the rapid repair of his friendship with the Franklin brothers.

Styx represents the challenges that many children experience during their formative years when conflicts or circumstances deliver them into the hands of government agencies. His experiences incur the need to learn how and when to wheel and deal and how to mask vulnerability. At the same time, Styx represents to Caleb all the freedom, worldliness, and power he craves for himself. Far from being the superherolike figure Caleb initially sees in him, however, Styx is deeply human, emotionally sensitive, and distrustful in situations in which he loses control, such as when DCS arrives to reprimand or remove him. By the end of the novel, Styx comes to represent all the hidden complexities a person possesses that others have trouble seeing; when Caleb matures enough to recognize this, he acknowledges that Styx needs his friendship and aid. Finally, to Caleb, Styx’s recovery from injury and adoption by Mr. Pike symbolize the presence and possibility of everyday miracles.

Bobby Gene is Caleb’s 11-year-old brother. As the oldest son, he is named after his father and grandfather. Bobby Gene is far less reckless than Caleb and Styx, and he often professes worries about their actions or states the way in which they are breaking the rules. He still goes along with Caleb’s and Styx’s plans, such as walking into town without permission, boarding the train to trade the motor, and taking the ride on the moped. He tries consistently to keep Caleb in line as Caleb’s restlessness and impulsivity ratchet up: He tries to prompt Caleb to leave the ER when Caleb insists on staying, and he tells Caleb he cannot bike the whole way back to the hospital in Indianapolis. Despite his affinity for the rules, Bobby Gene is torn in many scenes. He wants to do the right thing according to the established parental rules, but he recognizes the potential of a higher justice in staying true to the deal and the friendship established with Styx. He is also torn between behaving responsibly and the temptation of adventure, largely because he is afraid of consequences. This dynamic becomes embodied when the main trio finally obtains the moped and Styx prompts them to hop on for a ride. Caleb jumps on immediately, but Bobby Gene first hesitates, then will only ride if he takes the safer center position between Styx and Caleb.

Bobby Gene symbolizes the tug-of-war many children feel within themselves—especially as they approach the teen years—between doing what one wants to do versus doing what one knows they should do. Bobby Gene also represents a clear, consistent supporter to Caleb. The two make plans and follow through together, play LEGOs together, and serve out punishments together like chore hour with Cory Cormier. Even when Caleb and Bobby Gene disagree, such as the piggy bank incident, Bobby Gene always comes back to Caleb for companionship and to offer protection.

While both Mom and Dad are strong parental forces with whom Bobby Gene and Caleb must contend, Dad’s characterization is far more complex than Mom’s. Dad’s strong opinions, manner, and rules create the preexisting conflict of the novel before Caleb and Styx even meet. Caleb misunderstands Dad’s focus on being “ordinary” early on; he only knows that Dad goes to union meetings because he thinks others expect it, not because he wants to, and that Dad thinks even Caleb’s talents are simply even more ordinary than usual (Caleb’s miscomprehension of the word extra-ordinary). Coupled with Dad’s focus on staying ordinary, Caleb grows incensed by Dad’s oppressive need to keep them in Sutton; Dad will not even allow the boys to attend field trips to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum: “No sons of mine have cause to go into the city” (64). Later, when Styx is released from the hospital, Dad responds with a “satisfied sigh. ‘See? No cause to go into the city. A little patience was all we needed’” (275), a reaction that causes Caleb to impulsively attempt riding his bike to the hospital alone.

Caleb understands that Dad believes angry and dangerous people are in the world, but not until the end of the novel does Dad explain, “I don’t want you going somewhere where people might look at you and see a threat. Here, we’re just like everybody else” (279). Finally, Caleb sees that Dad’s beliefs about staying in Sutton are grounded in his worries about the misunderstandings and prejudices that occur in cities and places where their family will not be recognized. Dad believes that those misunderstandings and prejudices can lead to violence. To him, the best job he can do as a father and provider is to keep everyone close to home. As he becomes more aware, however, of the summer his sons have shared with Styx Malone, Dad comes to a reckoning regarding the wider world. He relents on his strict rules, seeing that his boys will eventually go far from home with or without his permission—and may go sooner because of his rules, as Caleb proved with his intent to bike to Indianapolis. Dad shows his dynamic characterization when he purchases tickets to the museum and takes Caleb and Bobby Gene there along with Cory, Styx, and Pixie.