Theme Post I

The main theme in Maniac Magee is racism. Racism is a reoccurring theme/event in the book. The book states that black people lived in the east end, and white people lived in the west end (Spinelli 12). Also, whenever any black person would see him in the east end they were very surprised and shocked because no white man especially a white boy would dare to come to the east side of town. At the end of chapter nine it says, "The Cobra's were laughing because they figured the dumb, straggly runt would get out of the East End in about as good shape as a bare big toe in a convention of snapping turtles" (Spinelli 32). So the author explains that even kids thought that the black end was a bad place to be, so Spinelli made the kids in the book stereo type black people. By doing that Spinelli definitely displayed that not only adults, but kids were to some extent racist. In the middle of chapter thirteen Mrs. Beale said, "One little black, one little black boy, and one medium white boy... never saw such a tub" (Spinelli 48). By Spinelli describing that, he is saying that never did anyone see black kids playing or getting along with each other. It just wasn't very common. This theme, racism, will continue throughout the book and is a major part of not only this book but to us, in the real world.

Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Boston: Little, Brown Young Readers, 1999. Print.