Fourth Grade Rats

As The Costs of Succumbing to Peer Pressure escalate, Chapters 6-9 officially initiate Suds into the identity of a fourth grade rat as he sets out to follow Joey’s advice in how best to achieve adulthood. This development marks the “journey” stage of the coming-of-age pattern, and it is significant that this section of the novel offers Suds more tangible incentives for adopting the disruptive behaviors espoused by his friend. Entranced by the tantalizing idea of winning Judy Billings’s affection, Suds becomes even more deeply incentivized to give in to Joey’s pressure to change his habits and behavior. Joey’s initial transformation of his own personality provides a window into the path that Suds himself is choosing to follow. As Joey changes his appearance and adopts what he believes are stereotypical masculine traits, Spinelli once again employs humor to create an over-the-top scenario that emphasizes the inherent immaturity of Joey’s shallow interpretation of manhood. With such a prominently erroneous demonstration, Spinelli now has plenty of room to create whimsical contrasts that emphasize The True Meaning of Maturity. To this end, even as Suds accepts Joey’s superficial philosophy, he struggles to align it with his core values, and this cognitive dissonance paves the way for Suds to acquire a deeper understanding of maturity. 

Suds’s willingness to receive rat “training” illustrates The Costs of Succumbing to Peer Pressure. Jealous of the attention that Joey is receiving from Judy, Suds begins to see the social value in donning the rat identity. When Joey eggs him on, the scene demonstrates the profound influence that even implicit peer pressure can have on young people. Although Judy makes no explicit demand of Suds, the implicit pressure of wanting to gain her approval motivates Suds to behave in ways that conflict with his true personality. Suds therefore abandons his sense of self in order to chase the elusive phantom of peer acceptance, and as his increasingly disruptive actions cause greater conflict in his life, he will eventually learn the importance of maintaining his own integrity and identity in the face of social pressure. 

While Suds does his best to excel at Joey’s dubious “training” challenges in Chapter 8, Suds’s participation suggests that with each new “success,” he comes closer to achieving to the fourth grade rat persona, and while the protagonist does not yet realize the full consequences, the larger narrative implies that each success in this arena earns him an equal setback in his most important relationships as well. However, in these early stages of half-hearted transformation, it is significant that the only “rat rules” that Suds does not manage to achieve are vanquishing his fear of heights and saying no to his mother. Suds’s respect for his mother clearly outweighs his desire to become a model rat, and Spinelli provides a variety of hints at the strength of his relationship with his mother. In the midst of Suds’s first attempts at Navigating the Path to Preadolescence, the mother-son relationship represents an important space in which Suds’s inherent goodness is validated and encouraged, providing a vital counterpoint to the harmful pressures from his peers. It is also important to note that Suds’s inability to conquer his fear of heights also serves as a key plot device that will later facilitate the climax of the novel. 

The scene in which Suds steals a Twinkie from a child at the park (and quickly returns it) hints at his developing transformation while implying that he has not yet abandoned all of his principles. However, Chapter 9 is a significant turning point for Suds, marking the moment when he takes the initiative to cause harm without prompting, thereby going “full rat.” Fueled by the cafeteria-wide laughter at his fall, his decision to shove the cake into the random third grader’s face parallels and highlights the escalation of Suds’s poor behavior. Rather than merely stealing the cake as he previously stole a child’s Twinkie, he takes his actions a step further, causing his target much greater embarrassment and harm. This moment indicates a radical switch, for Suds’s empathy for others has shut down in the face of the social pressures and bullying that he himself faces. Overcome by a longing for peer acceptance, he embraces new habits that present a dire contrast from his calm and kind-hearted characterization earlier in the novel. Thus, this section of the novel highlights a distinct phase of negative character growth, for Suds is approaching a crisis point that will prompt him to reflect and resolve his internal conflicts. 

The bath motif recurs in Chapter 9 to strengthen the implication of Suds’s negative transformation. It has already been established as a positive signifier of Suds’s personal identity, representing a reflective space for him, but in the midst of his inner turmoil, the bath now “[does not] do any […] good” (93), indicating that Suds faces a severe internal disruption that the usual remedies will not fix. This turning point evokes the internal crises that children often experience as they work on Navigating the Path to Preadolescence and begin to question the nature of their identity. Thus, Suds’s difficulties in Chapter 9 also highlight the impact that peer relationships and social pressure have on preadolescent reactions under pressure. Just as Gerald Willis’s early bullying of Suds motivates him to learn more about being a rat, the later humiliation that Suds faces from both Judy Billings’s rejection and Gerald’s increased bullying causes him to reclaim power and respect by conforming to the behavior that his peers now expect of him. 

As a sharp contrast to this behavioral trend, Suds’s mother stands as a mitigating influence, and her reaction to the news of Suds’s disruptive behavior illustrates her role as a facilitator of positive growth for her son. She comments that the incident in the cafeteria “doesn’t sound like you, Suds” (93), and this gentle admonition highlights her ability to discern Suds’s true identity and encourage him to remain true to himself even when circumstances seem to demand otherwise. This scene reinforces the fact that Suds is acting out of character and discarding his identity in order to fit in at school. When he faces disapproval at home as a result, he begins to realize The Costs of Succumbing to Peer Pressure. However, he is not quite mature enough yet to shed his new aggressive persona entirely; instead, he doubles down on his poor behavior, and it is only when his behavior escalates beyond all reasonable limits that he will finally realize the error of his ways. In the meantime, his angry proclamation, “Okay, you want a rat, you got a rat!” (94), stands as an unequivocal statement of his breaking point. The consequences of embracing the fourth grade rat identity, while problematic, will eventually prompt Suds to engage in new reflection and growth in the final stages of the story.