49 pages • 1 hour read
Kekla MagoonThe Season of Styx Malone
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Trust as a Basis for Relationships
Trust between characters is frequently questioned and tested throughout The Season of Styx Malone, and Magoon explores how trust is essential to successful relationships. Early evident trust exists between Caleb and Bobby Gene; they share an equal passion for the fireworks, for example, and stick together throughout their scolding and punishment for trading their baby sister. Once Styx Malone enters the scene, however, the trust between the brothers is put to the test. While Bobby Gene certainly wants the goods Styx promises, he is not as quickly and easily swayed as Caleb. When they discuss giving up what savings they have to Styx’s cause, Bobby Gene decides to keep his cash. This prompts Caleb to question Bobby Gene’s loyalties. Caleb is hurt and surprised that his brother does not fully trust Styx and the Escalator plan, which causes him to feel distrustful of Bobby Gene. Caleb makes a dramatic exit to his top bunk, piggy bank in hand; Bobby Gene calls out his trust issues: “You’re going to sleep with that thing up there now?” (71).
Other times, Caleb distrusts Bobby Gene’s penchant for sounding like Dad when he opts on the side of caution and responsibility: “I swear, sometimes it was like he'd inhaled Essence of Dad and was breathing it back out” (253). By the end of the story, however, Caleb realizes that Bobby Gene can understand Dad’s and his (Caleb’s) feelings, and that he can serve as a trustworthy link between them. He also observes each time that Bobby Gene tries to protect him from making poor decisions—or goes along with the poor decision in an effort to keep him safe—which builds trust between them. Bobby Gene and Caleb navigate their differences throughout the summer by returning to the mutual trust established between them.
By contrast, Mom and Dad lose their trust in Bobby Gene and Caleb over the course of the novel. The boys see their misbehavior and resultant punishments as necessary byproducts of their time spent with Styx and the pursuit of the moped; losing Mom and Dad’s trust is an unfortunate consequence. The parents ground them, forbid them from seeing Styx, threaten to lock their bike wheels, and require them to stay in their room out of an inability to trust them. Once Bobby Gene becomes more open to Dad about the amazing things they’ve learned this summer, Dad is more inclined to trust in the coming-of-age process; he cannot deny that the boys are growing up and must be left to learn independently sometimes. His desire to control their behavior has created the opportunity for Caleb and Bobby Gene to betray his trust; being more trusting and allowing them to make some decisions for themselves actually empowers his sons to prove they are trustworthy.
Styx feels betrayed by the Franklins once DCS arrives to collect him, and Caleb feels betrayed by Styx for plotting to use the moped to run away. After their meticulous planning and hard work to manage the trade, the betrayals hit hard. The destruction of the moped in the accident symbolizes the dissolution of trust between the brothers and Styx; the way that the metal and the body of the moped twists and warps so easily represents the fragility of trust between friends. Trust must be tended to and cared for; Caleb learns to never take it for granted, and he feels a heavy need to make amends to Styx for his father’s call to DCS. The brothers repair their friendship with Styx but know that their relationship will be different now; their future friendship bond relies on a more mature trust, one that is informed by their summer experiences.
Illusory Versus Realistic Dreams
Some of the characters’ hopes and dreams in The Season of Styx Malone are unattainable because they are illusory; they want strongly to pin hopes on a dream that will fulfill some need, but the dream in its present state is unrealistic. Caleb leads the pack in this regard with his dream of limitless freedom from boundaries and rules, which he covets because he is ready to see the sights of bigger towns, cities, and places. He also has a vague desire to be “special” and more powerful and charismatic than the “ordinary” Caleb he believes his father wants him to be. Caleb’s dreams are out of reach because they do not take reality into account; he is only 10, and limitless freedom is not a reasonable request. He feels that Styx is his ticket to freedom, both through the mobility ensured by the moped and through Styx’s influence and instruction in how to conduct deals and power trades. Caleb is hampered by reality, though, represented by the voice of reason that is his brother. Bobby Gene cautions against giving their cash to Styx, for example, and Caleb’s reaction is “Why did he have to shoot down my dreams?” (71).
Caleb learns in the story that illusory dreams sometimes need a dose of reality to tame them into something more approachable and ultimately more satisfactory. For example, after trading the fireworks for the truck parts and then the truck parts for the broken riding mower, Caleb follows Styx’s lead and takes a moment to appreciate the success of the acquisition: “The moment felt like Saturday, like summer heat, like adventure. It felt as big as the sky above us and as firm as the ground beneath. It felt like the soft swish of corn tassels and being one step closer to an impossible dream” (116). By taking the one-step-at-a-time approach, Caleb begins to see a realistic path to dreams, one composed of smaller, intermediate goals that each deserve to be celebrated on their own. Similarly, when he and Bobby Gene share their honest feelings about the tiny box in which they feel trapped (Sutton), Dad takes them to the museum, and later to Chicago and Lake Michigan. Family trips are different from the limitless freedom Caleb dreamed of, but his goal to begin to see more of the world is met.
Styx represents someone who has given up on dreams he counts as illusory because he has experienced so much disappointment in his life. He is willing to work toward a goal he sees as potentially realistic, like the moped, but unwilling to suggest that anything good can come of bigger hopes like maintaining the closeness of a sibling bond or staying in one place permanently. Styx’s biggest dream, finding a permanent home, comes true thanks to Bobby Gene’s and Caleb’s intervention; this symbolizes that sometimes a dream seems illusory until a person can accept the help of others. Styx, Caleb, and Bobby Gene are all elated when Mr. Pike states, “I’d like him to be my boy, if he’ll have me” (292), proving that one should never give up on a dream altogether.
Recognizing the Worth in What One Has
The biggest lesson learned by Caleb is his recognition of the worth and value in what he already possesses. Caleb spends much of the plot seeking what he doesn’t have and wanting to improve on what he does: Getting the Grasshopper becomes an all-consuming obsession; needing to break free of the confines of his parents rules becomes a risky motivator; he can suddenly see more flaws than positives in his relationship with his brother. This theme is foreshadowed in a literal way when Caleb first sees the riding mower Styx has his eye on. To Caleb, the piece of machinery is broken down and unimpressive: “I squinted, trying to see the magic I was missing. Maybe Styx just had a thing for green automotive paint” (76).
Soon, however, Caleb comes to realize that the riding mower has great worth and value as a potential trade for someone who can utilize it to serve their own needs. It is notable that Caleb himself recognizes the worth of the potential trade of Cory’s uncle’s Harley-Davidson memorabilia for the riding mower and can foresee the potential worth in trading the memorabilia to Mr. Davis for the moped. Caleb’s refined ability to see worth from others’ points of view shows his increased maturity and evolving open-mindedness, proving his dynamic ability to grow and change. Accordingly, he then becomes capable of seeing the worth in much more important facets of his life, like his relationship with Bobby Gene and his father. After disparaging the worth of Bobby Gene’s inclination to emulate their father occasionally, Caleb realizes at the visit to Styx’s house with Dad that Bobby Gene’s ability to empathize with multiple sides is a trait to be appreciated and treasured: “I was wrong about my brother. He wasn’t on the ordinary side of the canyon with Dad. He was the bridge” (280). Similarly, Caleb learns to appreciate his stable, loving family, which he previously saw as the antithesis to Styx’s freedom. Through exposure to the uncertainty of Styx’s life in foster care, Caleb learns that although family and relationships require obligations to other people, they also offer love, support, and safety.
Caleb also initially brushes off the importance of the piece of twisted metal that points out life’s miracles to him and Bobby Gene. After Styx is adopted by Mr. Pike and his own father begins to allow Bobby Gene and Caleb to experience more of the world around them, Caleb accepts that miracles large and small occur every day with luck, love, and learning.
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By Kekla Magoon
