Into the Power
We all possess certain powers. All so very different from one another. Everyone gets compared to each other based on our strengths and weaknesses, but in the end we are all different. Imagine being a 12 year old in a sleepover camp, being compared is inevitable. This is what happens in bungalow six in the story “Monster” by Kelly Link. In a form power is distributed throughout three different characters; Bryan Jones, Terrance, and James Lorbick. They all are connected through how they communicate their power with others.
Terrance holds the power of masculinity. He is the most idolized guy at the camp and everyone wants to grow up to be like him. Terrance is a powerful symbol of masculinity whom “all of the kitchen girls [hang] around”... and who is “going out with a girl who [is] six foot two” (Link 3). He is idolized by Bryan Jones. Bryan wants to become the kind of admired leader that Terrance is.
Bryan Jones is another very powerful character in this story. He follows Terrance’s every move. Because of this he has the power of influence over all of the campers. He is confident, bigger than the others, smart and local. He is always picking on James and makes it seem like a game so that James goes along with it. Everyone in bungalow six “wanted to be friends with Bryan Jones, even James Lorbick” (Link 4). Poor James falls victim to the infamous Bryan Jones. But he has something up his sleeve that might possibly save his life.
James Lorbick, the last of the characters with power. James is the underdog throughout the story until they meet the “monster”. James has the ability to speak to the monster. As it came and ate all of the other campers James closed his eyes. When he opened them again “the monster stood, looked down and grinned… it poked James on the shoulder with a long black nail [and said] ‘what are you’?” (Link 17). His ability to communicate with the monster proves he has more than smelly feet.
These three characters are all...