Maniac Magee Group

Question:

kjfioffiofijods
kjfioffiofijods
Teacher
Middle School

Why were the Finsterwalds's steps the only ones not sat on?

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Posted by kjfioffiofijods on Sunday August 23, 2009 at 9:56 AM and tagged with finsterwalds, maniac magee, plot, steps.

Answers:


  1. grammargator Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    Well, Spinelli never comes right out and says why, does he? But isn't there some house in every neighborhood where the "tough" kid lives--where, as Spinelli writes, '''If you valued your life, you never chased a ball into" that yard? And "No kid on a snow day would ever shovel that sidewalk, not for a zillion dollars"?

    The author's description of what would happen to anyone who dared venture near Fensterwald's, and the myth that surrounded the boy and his house, creates exactly the environment in which Maniac's behavior can be showcased as heroic. And that's the whole point of this chapter--to burnish the legend of Maniac Magee.

    In the end, exactly why Fensterwald's steps were unsat on is "a question best left unanswered" so the reader can imagine the tough kid from his or her own childhood living there and feel the familiar dread. 

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    Posted by grammargator on Sunday August 23, 2009 at 5:27 PM