49 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine ApplegateThe One and Only Bob
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Forgiveness and Trust
Bob learns important lessons about forgiveness and trust. Trusting others not to let you down can feel vulnerable and scary, especially when you’ve been hurt in the past. This is the situation in which Bob finds himself; he finally has a loving family, but he retains a deep-rooted skepticism about humans’ capacity to love and care for dogs. He admits that Julia is “pretty fun to hang out with” and that he’s “grateful […] that her family took me in” (89), but he maintains that he doesn’t “need them.” He explains that when you need someone, “eventually they let you down and you end up feeling like a real doofus” (89). This admission reveals that his aloofness comes from a place of hurt and mistrust.
Bob’s trauma came from his own abandonment but also from his experience with other dogs, such as Droolius. His unresolved trauma leads him to dwell on whether dogs should love and trust humans unconditionally, and this leads him to act out disobediently. Even when Bob understands what Julia wants from him, he is reluctant to fully comply, especially when it involves getting into the car. He admits that “the real reason for the training stuff isn’t my bad manners” and that “bad stuff can happen after you climb into a car” (62). This is an allusion to his traumatic abandonment as a puppy.
Bob tells Boss “through clenched jaws” that “I will never forgive those people for what they did to us” (255). His “clenched jaws” speak to his persisting anger and pain about their first owner’s cruelty. Boss replies with surprise, admitting that if she had held onto that much anger, she’d “never get out of bed” (255). Boss’s policy of forgiving and moving on helps Bob to learn that forgiveness and acceptance are healthier than holding onto hurt and hatred. Only when Bob lets go of his bitterness can he become fully present and loving in his new life. This includes acquiescing to Julia’s commands, fully accepting her love and attention, and his biggest hurdle: getting into the car. His leaping into the car with Rowdy after the storm, “no treats required” symbolizes his newfound trust in his family (317).
Furthermore, when Bob reassures Rowdy that humans will come to save them, while reflecting on all the kind and helpful humans he encountered throughout the stressful day, it signifies a trust that extends beyond his immediate family. Rowdy, concerned, presses Bob, “Are you sure they’ll come?” (314), and Bob answers confidently, “I’m sure.”
The Unlikely Hero
The One and Only Bob celebrates unlikely and unexpected heroes, first and foremost, Bob himself! Bob is initially characterized as fearful and self-interested, which makes his emergence as a brave and selfless hero more dramatic. Kimu the wolf, for example, makes Bob feel “jittery,” even when he is safely contained in his enclosure. Furthermore, Bob admits that when the hurricane first hits, he does not behave like a “hero dog.”; a hero dog, according to Bob, would “dash into flames and dig up rubble” (144), and his first thought would be of saving his friends. Bob is very honest about the fact that instead of such heroism, he “howl[s] like a newborn puppy” (144). This reaction makes Bob’s actions during the storm even more admirable than if he were a “hero dog,” because he must overcome his fear. By giving the protagonist both shortcomings and honesty, the author intends to make him more relatable and appealing to a young audience who have much to learn about courage.
Bob’s heroism begins when he returns the lost sloth baby, Sylvia, to her mom. He continues to navigate the wrecked park and comforts other scared animals, including Ruby. When Bob thinks he hears Boss’s bark for the second time that day, he leaves the relative safety of the park and navigates across the flooded city to find her, despite “the noises, the smells, the fear, the confused humans, the frantic animals,” and despite his “worry about Julia and George” (221). Bob enters the shelter, a place he fears and despises, in the hopes of helping Boss. As the water rises among the terrified animals, he impresses upon Boss the details of his home, hoping that she will survive and make her way to Julia and her family. This illustrates that Bob is putting Boss’s safety and survival above his own, especially as he insists that she climb on top of him to stay away from the rising water. His selfless bravery reaches a climax when he saves Rowdy from the terrifying flood water and from the even more terrifying jaws of Kimu.
Bob’s reward for his bravery is his expanded family with Boss and Rowdy. Furthermore, Bob’s bravery proves to himself that he is not, in fact, a coward, which seemed to be his greatest and most shameful fear at the beginning of the novel.
Humans’ Capacity to Hurt or Help
The One and Only Bob explores humans’ capacity to inflict pain and suffering but also to help and love. When Bob maintains that humans are untrustworthy, he cites his experience of cruel abandonment and his desperation as a puppy as he was hurled from the truck onto the roadside. This was the start of an even more traumatic time, as he had to fend for himself through the night. This is the end of Bob’s innocence: the moment where he is forced to confront the idea that “humans meant the possibility of living, just as much as they meant the possibility of dying (22). It was Ivan, rather than another human, who provided him refuge and companionship. From this time onwards (until the events after the storm), Bob vows that he will not subscribe to the adage that “dogs must forgive no matter what” (255).
Bob’s skepticism of humans is only reinforced by his encounter with the pitiful character Droolius, owned by a sometimes indifferent, sometimes cruel human. Droolius lives in a backyard, “chained up mostly,” with an “empty water bowl way too often” (79). Bob is a stray, but he still pities Droolius, who submits lovingly to his human owner, who had just kicked and yelled at Droolius. His whole being was communicating submissiveness and dedication, and yet Droolius is ignored or abused by his owner. Bob is embarrassed and heart-broken for Droolius.
Bob’s traumatic experiences foster a deep-seated mistrust of humans, even when the kind and patient Julia adopts him. A turning point occurs when Boss encourages Bob to forgive their first owner. Significantly, when Bob saves Rowdy, he reassures him that humans will save them. Bob draws on his memories of all the kind and helpful humans he has seen that day, and he chooses to trust and to love. Bob’s decision is ratified by his family’s kindness in adopting Rowdy, and presumably also Boss, who turns up in the final pages. Furthermore, kind humans adopt all the animals whom Ivan, Ruby, and Bob save from the flooding shelter. Bob’s choice to trust humans to do the right thing was not misplaced, and the novel ends on a hopeful and positive note.
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By Katherine Applegate
