The Narrator

The narrator of the story is a nine-year-old boy who lives in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946. He has joined the Boy Scouts in order to become more tough; he feels that his best friends, Horse and Max, are tougher than he is. It is primarily through the narrator’s interactions with his friends that readers develop a sense of his character. Although he sometimes challenges his friends, he is ultimately loyal to them. For instance, he stays with Horse to help him get his mattress onto the subway train, even though it means missing the first train. He also gives Horse some of his sandwich on the train when Horse has nothing else to eat. When it rains and he cannot protect all of them from the rain with the umbrella, he closes the umbrella in order to be fair to them.

Given that the narrator is a child embarking on a kind of quest, one might expect this to be a coming-of-age story. However, it is unclear that any significant learning or growth has occurred by the end of the story. Rather than reflect on his mistakes throughout the story, he and his friends determine that they will simply lie about their experience, which suggests that he is still of a boyish mentality at the story’s conclusion. On the other hand, it is the narrator who ultimately suggests going home when the camping trip is clearly ruined, as opposed to suffering more. Max acknowledges that this was a tough decision, and it suggests some degree of maturity on the narrator’s part. In this way, there may at least be some maturation or growth.

Philip “Horse” Hossfender

Philip, who goes by the nickname Horse, is one of the narrator’s two best friends and a fellow scout. He is described as “a skinny little kid . . . whose way of arguing was to ball up his fist and say, ‘Are you saying….?’ in a threatening tone.” Throughout the story, there are various instances of Horse’s hotheadedness, stubbornness, and toughness. For instance, when the narrator suggests going camping, Horse attempts to make it seem as though camping is his idea, saying that he already wanted to go but he did not think the others would be willing. Further, the fact that he, a small child, would lug a mattress all over New York City and into New Jersey, for instance, shows that he is stubborn and wants to be seen as capable and strong. Even at the end of the story, when the boys are coming to terms with their compromised toughness in light of the botched camping trip, Horse has an odd way of admitting his lack of toughness: “You saying I’m the one who’s tough?” He does not admit that he is not tough so much as he attempts to evade the label.

Richard “Max” Macht 

Richard, who goes by Max, is, along with Horse, one of the narrator’s best friends. Max is described as being “on the pudgy side, but he could talk his way out of a locked room.” Throughout the story, he plays a kind of know-it-all role, using logic—often poorly—to explain his perspective and persuade the other boys to make certain choices. For example, Max’s insistence on using his compass to head north, even when their destination lies east, shows how his logic is often flawed. 

When they go camping, he is arguably the most prepared of all the boys, bringing cooking equipment, a compass, and a hatchet, although these are not sufficient to make the camping trip successful. He is the first...