The Fourth Stall

Mac relies on the assistance of others throughout the novel. Excluding Vince and Joe, which three secondary characters are the most helpful to Mac in his decision to stand up to Staples and eventually defeat him? What specific talents or abilities do these three characters possess that contribute to their helpfulness? Provide details from the text to support your thoughts.

Baseball (and specifically, the Chicago Cubs) is a strong interest that Mac and Vince share. What might their shared interest in this particular sport or team symbolize in the context of the novel? What connotations come to mind with baseball topics and imagery, and how might those connotations connect to the plot and characters? Reread some of the passages in which Mac and Vince trade trivia questions or watch a Cubs game. How does their communication and camaraderie in those instances compare to scenes in which they run the business? What might this mean about their friendship in general?

Mac’s attempt to remove Staples’s influence from the elementary school can be seen as a series of challenges he either wins or loses. Wins include the “taking out” of the Collector and the discovery of Staples’s real name and rap sheet. What are two or three of Mac’s notable losses? What potential tragic flaw in Mac contributes to his defeat each time? In each instance, how does Mac react, and what does his reaction demonstrate about him as a character? Use details from the text to explain your reasoning.

In what ways does Staples exemplify a traditional shadow archetype (the antagonist)? Is Staples three-dimensional and dynamic, or flat and static? In many middle-grade novels, the antagonist experiences a redemptive moment in which they ask for forgiveness, learn their lesson, or offer contrition. Does Staples do any of these? What is the mood at the end of the book concerning the way Staples exited the scene?

How does the motif of money in the story contribute to the thematic topic of wealth? What specific theme or theme statement becomes evident in story events about wealth? Consider Mac’s and Vince’s backgrounds, current family situations, and the way they feel about money in framing your response. Compared to Staples, in what ways besides money does Mac feel wealthy?

Mac reveals very little about his family life or school day beyond the business he runs from the fourth stall. What impact does this have on the novel? Because the scope of plot and character is narrowly focused, what are three to four ways in which the author characterizes, provides thematic content, and utilizes literary devices like irony or foreshadowing without the benefit of showing more typical elements of Mac’s existence?

How does the author use cliffhanger endings and chapter caps to increase suspense? What are two or three effective examples of this, and do the events that follow “size up” to the excitement suggested by the cliffhanger? What other techniques appear in The Fourth Stall that increase suspense and/reader interest (such as foreshadowing or plot twists)?

Much of the decision-making and action occurs in the fourth stall or other places in and around the school. Consider other micro-settings and their role in the plot. What might the Yard, the trailer park, the Creek, the lake house, or other micro-settings represent for Mac and his business symbolically? Select two or three micro-settings and analyze their role in the story on both a literal and a figurative level. Use plot details to support your ideas.