The Homework Machine

Sam goes by his nickname Snik at school, which is a shortened version of Snikwad (Dawkins spelled backward). Snik is new to the Grand Canyon school. His family moved from Oregon because his father is in the Air Force and moves around a lot. Snik is cocky and outspoken. He prides himself on being a quick and accurate judge of character, pigeonholing his peers into groups of “clueless dweebs, pre-jock idiots, loses, brown-noses, and bullies” (8). Snik hates homework, and rather than take it seriously, he writes sassy, sarcastic answers that hint at his latent intelligence. Snik sees himself as cool and mocks Brenton for not even trying to become cool by never “having cool stuff or hanging around with cool people” (10). Snik sees Brenton as a challenge; Brenton’s intellect feeds into Snik’s insecurities about his own inferior intelligence.

Snik is fiercely pro-military, mostly because he admires his father, but also because Snik needs to believe in what his father does. Snik transforms from a one-dimensional class clown, determined to shirk his homework, into a responsible, caring, and supportive friend to peers he would have ordinarily shunned, having judged them as “stuck-up” (Judy), “a loser” (Kelsey), and a “mutant dork from another planet” (15) (Brenton).