Way of the Warrior Kid

Marc continues his progress, hitting a few snags along the way but correcting course more quickly. Jake is very upset with Marc’s eating habits, saying, “[I]t’s surprising you can feel okay with all that JUNK YOU ARE EATING” (107). In an illustration, Jake is glowering at Marc with his arms crossed, waiting for him to throw the meal in the garbage. Rather than an instance of backsliding, however, the novel frames this as a moment in which Marc does not know any better, and it is a problem that does not resurface. Moreover, the novel softens what initially seems to be Jake’s absolutist stance on diet by later depicting him treating Marc to a hamburger and milkshake. Indeed, this “reward” runs counter not only to Jake’s message about junk food but also to his prior stance on complacency, implying some latitude within his message that Discipline Equals Freedom: Provided one is striving for improvement, the novel suggests that occasional indulgences are acceptable. In part, this is a recognition of the work’s intended audience, as a message of incessant hard work would be inaccessible (if not off-putting) to most young readers.

Marc also makes excellent progress in the water, overcoming his fears and hesitation even when Jake has him swim across the creek by himself. Most importantly, Marc learns some new lessons on Confidence and Humility as Mutually Reinforcing. When he struggles to improve his pull-up numbers, Marc wonders, “[D]oes this mean I won’t be able to get to ten pull-ups? Or even five?” (121). He fears that with all the work he’s done, he’s reached the limits of his potential and that there are no more objectives to accomplish. Jake, however, recognizes that these fears are not rooted in reality and shows Marc that he can push himself far beyond where he thinks he can go, asking him to do 100 pull-ups. Even as his hands start to bleed, Uncle Jake is unmoved, demanding that he keep going to the finish and saying only, “Good job, Marc,” and, “[W]e don’t quit. Ever” (127), when Marc completes the task. As Jake is only there temporarily, Marc will eventually have to get to the point where he can motivate himself (and, relatedly, distinguish between what he genuinely cannot do, at least for the moment, and what he merely believes he cannot do). The training Jake offers has as much to do with this as it does the actual skills Marc is mastering, which is another reason why he is not effusive in praising Marc: In doing so, he teaches Marc to rely on himself rather than others for a sense of resolve and accomplishment. 

The chapter on learning the presidents and Gettysburg Address is also an extension of the lesson on humility. While framed in terms of memorization, the choice of subject indicates that Jake wants Marc to be humble before the weight of history, as it is implied Jake himself is as a member of the military who ultimately serves the civilian commander-in-chief. The Gettysburg Address makes this point more explicit: It is a wartime speech that commemorates those who died by expressing doubt that it is even possible for words to acknowledge the true heroism of dying on behalf of others’ freedom. These lessons in humility come to fruition in the jiujitsu studio, where Marc is able to defeat a much larger opponent (a parallel to earlier scenes when Marc witnessed other students do the same and thus another indicator of how far he has come) and then instantly encourage him that he too will improve. Marc shows he is ready to be a warrior when he is capable of setting a good example for others and not just following Jake’s example.