BOYS WILL BE BOYS
Setting. A town in Kentucky, with emphasis on Judge Priest’s office and the court-room. Time: in recent years, not the immediate present.
Plot.
Initial Incident: Judge Priest sends for Peep O’Day and informs him that he has inherited eight thousand pounds sterling.
Steps to the Dramatic Climax: Peep takes a silver dollar in advance from the Judge; he invests it in fruit, cake, and candy. He invites the boys to eat with him. The news of his fortune spreads, and eventually reaches Percy Dwyer in the workhouse at Evansville, Indiana (this is the hint at an opposing force, the first suggestion of a struggle). O’Day begins to “betray the vagaries of a disordered intellect.” He buys a child’s wagon, soda-pop, etc. With the youngsters he spends a day in Bradshaw’s woods, playing games. The day and his behavior are repeated.
Dramatic Climax: The apogee “came at the end of two months.” It consists of three definite things:
a. The arrival of the legacy,
b. The arrival of the one-ring circus,
c. The arrival of Nephew Dwyer.
Steps to the Climax of Action: Peep invests two hundred dollars and takes the youngsters to the circus. His nephew greets him at night; O’Day bids him a quick good-bye. The nephew goes to an attorney. Sublette addresses a petition to the Circuit Judge setting forth that O’Day is of unsound mind and that his nephew prays for the appointment of a curator over the estate. Judge Priest comes back from Reelfoot Lake. He talks with O’Day, and says that he may tell on the witness stand why he has spent the money as he has.
Climax of Action: Pages 120-124. O’Day’s speech. The climax of action is extended here, as was the dramatic climax in “The Great Auk.”
Dénouement: Judge Priest declares that the Court is advised as to O’Day’s sanity; the youngsters applaud; the elders join in the applause; O’Day is, according to the Judge, “the sanest man in this entire jurisdiction.” Court is adjourned. The Judge lingers to make a suggestion to the sheriff.
Anti-Climax, and Close of the Narrative: Peep brings to Judge Priest a present of all-day suckers.
Characterization. Judge Priest, who appears in many of Mr. Cobb’s stories, is one of numerous types the author knew when he was a Paducah reporter. The student should study him as an example destined to literary permanence. In the opinion of the present critic he is the most representative figure in all the current literature about the South. No Southerner can fail to recognize the gentleman.
In this particular story how is the Judge described by the author? How does his mail help to characterize him? How does his behavior reveal him? For what qualities do you like him at first? For what throughout? (See especially pages 95, 117, 126.) For what, finally?
Study the description of O’Day. Study page 94 for the way Mr. Cobb makes O’Day appeal to the reader’s sympathy. What in his past history has contributory value to the present picture and present plot? What in his environment? What do the townspeople think of him? What exceptions are there? What is his attitude to others? Study his behavior in connection with the reception of news about his fortune, his subsequent acts, and his speech in the court-room. Why is his story of his early life of particular worth here? Note all the reasons for which you sympathize with him. Wherein, in brief, lies the human appeal of the story?
How are the minor characters hit off as individuals? How are they repressed so as not to usurp too much of the reader’s attention?
Details. Study the easy way in which the locality is kept before the reader. For example, the business about the water-melons is essentially Southern.
From reading “The Great Auk” what would you judge to have been one of Mr. Cobb’s chief interests? What from reading “Boys Will Be Boys”?
Point out examples of this author’s humor.
What value has the fact (page 87) that the Court of Appeals had affirmed a decision of the Judge?
What effects arise from the statement that Peep wore a four dollar suit?
What forecast lies in O’Day’s admission of kinship to Dwyer? (Page 91.)
How has the author handled suspense in the first incident—the scene between the Judge and O’Day? Where does he satisfy curiosity? Is this, then, a minor climax of interest?
What reaction on the reader has O’Day’s statement, “I can’t neither read nor write”?
Note on page 100 the first indication that Peep’s sanity may be suspected (Speech of Mr. Quarles). This question of his sanity joins Dwyer’s interest in securing the money—a double force against Peep’s retaining his fortune. Were you in doubt, on first reading, that O’Day would remain in possession? Is the struggle well developed as the essential foundation of the plot?
Is the dénouement satisfactory?