In Chapter 2: Gandhi, we learn that Dave checked out two books about India while preparing for his oral report. He was fascinated by India's quest for independence--he noticed that it was really similar to our own country's break with England and struggle to be our own nation--and Dave was especially fascinated by Mahatma Gandhi, a man who helped his nation, India, achieve its independence.

As the narrator explains, Dave learns that Gandhi was a small, thin man who chose to use only "words and ideas," never "weapons or violence," to fight against British rule and to repel the British forces. Dave finds this very interesting. How could someone win a war and change his nation's fate just with words? Dave also rereads the passage in his book that describes Gandhi's habit of going for entire days without speaking so that he could "bring order to his mind."

All this new information about the power of words and the power of silence really gets Dave thinking. It makes him decide to try going an entire day without talking, too.