Skinnybones

The first three chapters of Skinnybones use a combination of present-day and flashback stories to convey Alex’s habit of Using Humor to Cope With Conflict. His devotion to comedy quickly becomes a centerpiece of his characterization as he interacts with parents, teachers, and peers alike through an awkward combination of humorous quips and comedy bits. By tracing his comedic roots to kindergarten show and tell, Alex betrays his pride at becoming a habitual class comedian, and it is clear that he compensates for his moments of insecurity or doubt by eliciting laughter from those around him. As Alex admits, “[M]aking people laugh was a lot more fun than sitting quietly at my desk” (12). However, because he is willing to resort to tall tales when he runs out of true stories to tell, his recollections of show and tell also introduce the novel’s thematic focus on The Consequences of Lying, which will play a greater role as the narrative unfolds. 

In addition to Alex’s unsolicited humor (which is aptly demonstrated in his essay to Kitty Fritters), Alex tends to use his humor as a sly way of addressing his more awkward social problems and insecurities. Alex’s conflicts usually stem from two sources—his poorly timed humor or his insecurity about his small stature—and he deals with every problem by hiding his very real distress beneath a veneer of humor. In Chapter 2, for example, Alex recalls the first day of fifth grade, when he first met his bullying baseball rival, T.J. Stoner. Because Alex felt threatened by T.J.’s baseball prowess and boastful energy, he interrupted class to make his own baseball announcement, saying, “I didn’t get voted MVP. But I did come in second in the swimsuit competition” (17). In this way, he has learned to distract everyone from his (perceived) inadequacies by directing their attention toward his whimsical antics.

However, Alex’s humor isn’t always well timed, and he sometimes makes situations worse by failing to take them seriously. For example, Alex notes that in his first run-in with T.J., neither his teacher nor T.J. laughed at his poorly timed joke, and Park uses this scenario to indicate that Alex’s attempts at humor sometimes escalate tension rather than relieving it. In this case, his joke marked the beginning of his antagonistic relationship with T.J., who later rejected Alex’s attempts at friendship and declared, “I hate your slimy guts, Frankovitch” (19). When Alex jokingly asked, “Can’t our slimy guts be friends?” (19), T.J. responded with physical aggression and name-calling, and it is clear that despite Alex’s attempts to use humor to earn T.J.’s friendship, his jokes only exacerbated T.J.’s hostility, showing that Alex’s humor is not always a welcome experience.

These early chapters also set the stage for the novel’s subtext on The Value of Talent Beyond Athleticism. At the moment, Alex remains fully consumed by his self-consciousness over his small stature and lack of sports prowess, and these insecurities are vividly portrayed in his self-deprecating comments and his keen awareness of T.J.’s growth spurt during fifth grade. As he observes, “When I began to notice how gigantic he was getting, I decided […] to try to get on his good side” (19). When T.J. responded by calling Alex a “skinny little bag of bones” (20), his mocking tone publicized an insecurity that Alex desperately tries to hide beneath his humor, and the protagonist’s worries about baseball therefore are his primary conflict as the novel continues. However, the almost incidental mention of the Kitty Fritters writing contest foreshadows the fact that Alex’s true successes will lie in areas that do not depend on his physical size or athletic skills.

To further emphasize Alex’s insecurities amid the increasingly complex social pressures of middle school, Park describes Alex’s anxiety over the dreaded Most Improved Player award, which the protagonist interprets as repeated confirmation of his utter incompetence in sports. Chapter 3 delves into Alex’s endless cycle of going “FROM TOTALLY REEKING TO ONLY STINKING 6 YEARS IN A ROW” (25), and while Alex continues to use self-deprecating humor to deal with this conflict, his simmering frustration and attempts to rebel illustrate his ongoing battle with his own self-esteem in the context of athleticism. Alex was so embarrassed by the idea of winning the non-award for the sixth time in a row last year that he asked his dad to pretend that he wasn’t at the award ceremony, declaring, “It’s just embarrassing to get another Improved award, that’s all. I don’t want it” (22). T.J.’s mocking reaction at the awards ceremony worsened Alex’s distress, foreshadowing future conflicts between the two boys as Alex tries desperately to prove his worth to the baseball team. Thus, although Alex is skilled at making people laugh in times of conflict and tension, his comedy sometimes fails to alleviate his own insecurities when he resorts to using humor as a defense mechanism. Alex will continue to fight his internal and external battles with comedy as the novel progresses.