Character Outline for The Mifits

Misfits Character Outline and Essay

    Joe Bunch shows caring by being with others when they are down and tries to comfort them.  Four kids in the small town of Paintbrush Falls where they go to middle school have been called names since kindergarten.  The book, Misfits by James Howe is about the four kids: Joe, Addie, Skeezie, and Bobby.  They have been called names for different reasons.  Joe for being gay, Addie for being so tall and smart, Skeezie for being so unclean, and Bobby for being chubby.  The gang of five, or so they call themselves, are trying to make Paintbrush Falls Middle School a name free place where nobody will be called names. Joe has some problems showing responsibility by having troubles and not trying to work them out. James Howe makes it so he has to work out his own problems by confronting them.

    Addie has some problems with showing respect to the teachers in Paintbrush Falls.  An example is in the book on page 36-38 where it says that she is arguing with Ms. Wyman about saying the pledge and also saying its a free country and she doesn’t have to do something if she doesn’t want to.  This shows that Addie doesn’t have respect for a teachers authority.

    Bobby shows caring by helping people with their problems and giving them advice like with Joe liking Colin, and by the end of the book Joe starts going out with Colin.  This shows that Bobby tries to help others with their problems and is nice to people.  Another example is that Bobby wrote a speech for the third party about no name calling day, where people think of the worst name they can call people and completely forget it so others won’t have their feelings hurt. It turns out after they lost for the third party, the principal had talked with Bobby about making no-name day, no-name week and that was what they did for the rest of Paintbrush Falls Middle School history.

    The way James Howe was able to make Joe confront his problems was sending letters to Colin, and Colin was sending them back to the right locker but Joe thought it was Kelsey who was sending them.  The way Joe confronts that problem is that Joe asks Colin if he wants to go out and maybe go to the dance together, and Colin says yes.

    Reading The Misfits made me change my perspective of bullying and name calling and I think kids can really make a difference to a school if they really wanted to.  It made me think that names can really hurt people. If they don’t do something about it, that it will stay with them forever. It will make them feel hurt inside and they think that that is really what people think of the person that is being called names.