| Whale Talk | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Chris Crutcher |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Laurel-Leaf Books , HarperCollins[1] |
| Publication date | 2001 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 220 pp |
| ISBN | 0440229383 |
| OCLC Number | 51099093 |
| Preceded by | Ironman |
| Followed by | The Sledding Hill |
Whale Talk is a 2001 novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. It is narrated by The Tao "T.J." Jones, an adopted Asian-African-European-American teenager living in Cutter, Washington, a fictional location described in the novel as being within the Pacific Northwest's Inland Empire, about 50 miles outside of Spokane.
Contents |
The story takes place in School, which prides itself heavily on the physical achievements of its students, and thrives on the winnings of the football and basketball teams. Many teachers there display favoritism toward the star athletes, such as Mike Barbour, and turn a blind eye to the bullying that occurs, such as Barbour tormenting Chris Coughlin.
Mr. Simet, a teacher, wants to start a swim team to avoid having to be an assistant coach for Wrestling. He encourages T.J., who formerly swam and was very talented, to join and recruit others. T.J. gets together six others to form a seven-man team, composed of him; the mentally challenged Chris Coughlin; the obnoxious and extremely intelligent Dan Hole; the kind and talented bodybuilder/musician Tay-Roy Kibble; the rude and antagonistic Andy Mott; the quiet and generic Jackie Craig; and the obese Simon DeLong. All of them have predicaments, which they slowly reveal to each other as they grow to become friends.
During the year, T.J. meets a little half-black girl named Heidi. Her step-dad is the drunkard Rich Marshall, frequently abuses her and her mother, Alicia. T.J. helps his therapist, Georgia Brown, with Heidi, and they form a close bond.
The Tao Jones (T.J.) - Main character in the novel. He was adopted. He was abandoned by his mother who was heavy on drugs, as a result he had some rage issues. T.J. comes from a mixed background being Japanese, Black, and White. He is a gifted athlete who shuns high school sports because of the association they have with jocks and bullies.
Mr. Jones (T.J.’s Father) - He was a truck driver and at a point in his life had an affair with a widowed mother. He accidentally kills the widow's child when the toddler hides in the axle of his truck. The father commits to a life of repentance. He is tragically killed at the end of the novel, but before he dies he gives T.J. an abundance of life lessons.
Oliver Van Zandt (Icko) - The team’s assistant swim coach that lives in the gym because he sells his house to send his son to college.
Chris Coughlin - Mentally handicapped young man who T.J. defends from the bullies of the school. He lost his older brother and always tells everyone about him mentioning the picture in the school's awards case.
Mike Barbour - The school's start linebacker and meanest bully in the school. T.J makes it his job to show Mike that his team can too have a “letter man” coat.
Daniel Hole - Another member of the swim team who is a geek, who always uses big words. He is made fun of a lot and the swim team gives him the confidence he needs.
Simon DeLong - A three-hundred-pound young man who looks nothing like an athlete but at the end of the novel he is no longer picked on for his weight and is a valuable team member.
Jackie Craig - An extremely shy young man that does not speak at the beginning of the novel, but by the end is able to talk and has the confidence he needs in life.
Andy Mott - One of the swimmers on the team who only has one leg; he opens up by end of novel to say that he lost his leg at the hands of his mother's abusive boyfriend
Tay-Roy - Another one of the swimmers on the team who was a great wrestler but has become uninterested in the sport.
Alicia Dalton-Marshall- She is the mother of Heidi and a set of twin boys. She is Rich's wife, though, they are separated.
Heidi Marshall- The half white, half black child of Alicia and Willis. Her name used to be Felicia, but was changed to Heidi because "it was the 'whitest' name Rich could think of." She has issues with her race and is constantly trying to "wash off" her color.
Georgia Brown- Georgia is mixed races like T.J. and Heidi. She is the therapist T.J. went to when he was little for his rage problems. She is now Heidi's therapist, too.
Rich Marshall- Rich is the main antagonist. He is extremely racist, he calls T.J. a "chigger", combination of chink and nigger.
Conflict - T.J.’s main conflict is man v. man he intends to show up Barbour and others like him by earning a letter jacket for every member of the swim team. The team itself has a conflict against society as well. Their quest is to earn a letter jacket is their need to show that they each deserve respect and dignity.
Themes: • Overcoming obstacles • Discrimination • Tolerance • Humanity (in reference to the title)
This novel, like many of Crutcher's other works, deals with the harsh realities of life, and is consequently a target for challenges brought by individuals who believe the novel should be removed from libraries and classrooms because of its coarse language and other adult issues. Crutcher has compiled a history of the attempts to censor his books.