Mitchell Bould
Someone once said that every cloud has a silver lining. In other words, things that seem bad always contain some goodness. In The Bully, Darrell Mercer is confronted with a terrible situation. On a daily basis, he finds himself at the mercy of Tyray Hobbs, a bully whose cruelty makes Darrell’s life unbearable. In the course of The Bully, three positive changes result from Darrell’s experience with Tyray.
One positive result from Darrell’s experience with Tyray is that he joins the wrestling team after the coach tells him it will help him get stronger mentally and physically. After much debating over whether or not to join the team he joins and gains a lot of confidence.
Another positive consequence of the bullying is that Darrell realizes he must stop Travis’s bullying of Nate. Darrel sees that the bullying is putting an emotional strain on Nate and that it needs to be stopped. Darrel tries to help Nate out by standing up to Travis but it doesn’t work out the way he planned.
The most positive result of Darrell’s experience with Tyray is that he learns to stand up for himself. He gets sick of Tyray bullying him and his mistreatment of the lunch ladies. So, with his newfound confidence and strength he finally stands up to Tyray and puts and end to his reign of terror over himself and countless others.
The lesson that bad experiences can lead to positive changes clearly applies to Darrell Mercer. Because Tyray makes fun of Darrell’s size, Darrell goes out for the wrestling team and becomes stronger, inside and out. Because Darrell understands the terror of being bullied, he stops Travis’s bullying of little Nate. Finally, because Darrell must deal with Tyray alone, he learns to act on his own behalf. Through Darrell’s experience with Tryray in The Bully, Paul Langan shows that clouds really can have a silver lining.