The Middle Five · Chapter
I: The Mission explained
The narrator recounts his first day at the Presbyterian Mission boarding school for Omaha children, describing the overwhelming experience of entering a strange world of stone buildings, bells, and unfamiliar customs.
What happens
The narrator recounts his first day at the Presbyterian Mission boarding school for Omaha children, describing the overwhelming experience of entering a strange world of stone buildings, bells, and unfamiliar customs. He is comforted by an older boy named Brush, who becomes his friend and protector. The chapter explores the social dynamics among the boys, where fighting is necessary to earn respect, and introduces the gang of the 'Big Seven' that Brush aspires to join. The narrator learns to stand up for himself through a fight, gaining a measure of acceptance.
Themes in this chapter
Cultural Identity and Assimilation
The narrator's transition from a traditional Omaha upbringing to the rigid, foreign environment of the Mission school highlights the tension between native culture and forced assimilation.
Childhood and Play
The boys form gangs and engage in fights and games, illustrating how children create their own social structures and codes of honor within the school.
Resistance and Rebellion
The narrator learns that fighting back against bullies is necessary to maintain respect, a form of small-scale resistance against the school's social hierarchy.
Characters to notice
- Me
The narrator, a young Omaha boy experiencing his first day at the Mission school, feeling homesick and overwhelmed.
- Brush
An older boy who befriends the narrator, offering comfort and advice on how to survive among the schoolboys.
- Graybeard
The gray-haired man who leads prayers and speaks at meals, likely a teacher or superintendent.
Key passages
““That’s right,” he said; “fight any of them, even if you know that you’re going to get licked; then they won’t tease you.””
Brush advises the narrator to fight back regardless of the outcome, as standing up for oneself discourages bullies.
This advice encapsulates the school's informal code of honor among boys.
“I want my mother! I want to go home!”
The narrator cries out in homesickness, expressing his deep longing for his family and familiar surroundings.
This captures the emotional turmoil of a child separated from his parents in a foreign setting.