42 pages • 1 hour read
Skinnybones
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Character Analysis
Alex Frankovitch
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying.
Alex is a sixth-grade Little League player and the protagonist of the novel. Because he is smaller than the others in his age group, many of his internal and external conflicts are related to his self-consciousness about his size and lack of athletic prowess. Rather than displaying natural athletic talent, Alex knows that his greatest skill is his knack for comedy, and he utilizes this skill to compensate for his insecurities and attempt to get out of trouble.
Alex is notorious for being the class clown, and he traces the origin of this pattern to his kindergarten experience with show and tell. After articulating a funny idea and getting his entire kindergarten class to laugh, Alex realized that “making people laugh was a lot more fun than sitting quietly at [his] desk” (12), and the moment marked the beginning of his humorous antics in class. However, Alex’s comedy is not always well timed or well received, as evidenced by the hostility of his nemesis, star baseball player T.J. Stoner. Although Alex’s humor can get him out of trouble or charm those around him, his humor is also responsible for creating more conflicts.
Alex’s primary conflicts within the novel stem from his poorly timed humor and his feelings of inadequacy over his small size and mediocre baseball skills. This is most evident in Chapter 5, when Alex grows frustrated by T.J.’s constant boasting and lies about his own curveball. This fib lands him in a humiliating pitching contest with T.J., which he loses spectacularly despite his efforts to joke his way out of it. Alex uses humor again in the novel’s climax to distract T.J. from catching a baseball, which helps Alex make it to second base in the most important game of the season. Although his gambit aids him, the legality of his use of humor is challenged, and he is forced to relinquish his greatest baseball accomplishment when the umpire declares him “out.”
However, Alex’s story arc ends on a positive note when his humorous entry to a commercial competition is chosen as the winner, landing him a role in a television commercial for his comedic talents. Feeling validated for his talent in comedy, Alex allows himself to enjoy the spotlight, understanding that he has valuable and unique talents beyond the realm of baseball.
T.J. Stoner
T.J. is Alex’s bully and the novel’s primary antagonist. Described as “the biggest kid in the whole [class]” (19), he often boasts about his baseball team’s winning status and his many awards as the Most Valuable Player. T.J. has little patience for Alex’s humor and rejected Alex’s early attempts to befriend him. He also goes out of his way to bully Alex and make his life harder, even resorting to physical bullying, like pinning Alex down or putting his shoe on Alex’s face. When Alex makes fun of T.J. by boasting about his own curveball, T.J. challenges Alex to a pitching contest and proceeds to win it, humiliating Alex publicly. T.J. also invites the entire class to their Little League game to watch him break a Little League record and see Alex’s team suffer a humiliating defeat. T.J. understands that Alex is ashamed of his baseball skills and enjoys the idea of having “the whole class [turn] up to watch [him] lose” (74).
T.J. also bullies Alex for his size, saddling Alex with the titular nickname of “skinnybones.” T.J. also calls Alex a “wimp,” a “runt,” and a “skinny little bag of bones” (20), and his use of name-calling to torment Alex shows T.J.’s willingness to exploit the insecurities of others for his own gain. In the novel’s climax, Alex manages to bunt a pitch from T.J. and then uses humor to get the upper hand in the game. For the first time, in the midst of the chaos created by Alex’s unconventional tactics, Alex spots T.J. “laughing his head off” (103), and T.J.’s sudden appreciation for Alex’s antics breaks the tension between them, leading to a peaceful sharing of the spotlight in the final chapter as the boys both celebrate their respective accomplishments in comedy and athletics.
Alex’s Parents
Alex’s parents are secondary characters in the novel, serving as figures of discipline and authority for Alex. Through Alex’s interactions with his mom and dad, Park illustrates the adults’ resigned adaptations to Alex’s zany behavior, comedic antics, and exaggerated lies, and it is clear that they are determined to keep him on a path to success. Alex’s relationship with his mom is warm and full of understanding, which can sometimes prove frustrating for Alex since his mom finds him funny even when he’s not trying to joke around. For example, Alex’s mom bursts into laughter when the family cat vomits on Alex’s shoe, and she also found it funny when a botched haircut once left him bald.
Although Alex’s parents are supportive of Alex, their care sometimes manifests in ways that upset him. For example, when he was afraid to win the Most Improved Trophy for the sixth time in a row, his dad gave him a pep talk about how other kids would love to win an award. While his heart was in the right place, Alex’s dad ultimately failed to understand why Alex was upset. However, after Alex acted out in front of the audience during his award acceptance, Alex’s dad showed understanding by choosing not to lecture his son. He shows a similar level of empathy after the big game in which Alex again makes a fool of himself.
When Alex attempts to get out of responsibilities that would make him feel embarrassed or ashamed, Alex’s parents work as authority figures and force him to deal with these situations head-on. Even after Alex’s embarrassing defeat, his mom still forces him to go to school and face his class on Monday. It is also important to note that her tendency to laugh at his expense—and both parents’ tendency to dismiss Alex’s fears and anxieties—explain Alex’s hesitation to come to his parents with his issues. Instead, he tries to deal with them himself through humor. In the final chapter, Alex’s mom comes through for him when she arranges for the principal to publicly announce Alex’s Kitty Fritters victory over the loudspeaker. This grandiose form of praise reassures Alex and gives him some much-needed confidence.
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