Runaway Ralph

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1970

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary: “The Escape”

As predicted, Garf avoids the craft shop to escape further suspicion. Ralph’s food begins to wane, and he attempts to get out of his cage. Chum tries to help but can’t reach Ralph’s cage. Ralph becomes progressively more desperate as he watches the campers making mosaics and Lana cuddling Catso and listens to Garf in the bamboo patch playing with the motorcycle.

When Aunt Jill tidies the craft shop, Ralph shows her how hungry and desperate he is. She calls Garf over and points out that Ralph is hungry, and Garf had insisted that Ralph’s care was his responsibility. Garf hesitantly comes inside to clean the cage and feed Ralph. Aunt Jill leaves him alone in the craft shop, which gives Ralph the opportunity to try to talk to Garf at last.

Garf hears him and is delighted at the idea of a talking mouse. Ralph tells Garf the motorcycle is his, that he got it from a boy at the Mountain View Inn, and that he used to live at the hotel. He tries to convince Garf to release him from the cage, but Garf wants to keep him. He tells Garf he knows what happened to the watch and that he knows where it is to bargain for his freedom. Garf is tempted but says he doesn’t want to return the watch because it will confirm the camp’s suspicions. When Ralph says Catso took the watch, Garf is incredulous and accuses Ralph of an overactive imagination.

Garf leaves the craft shop after feeding Ralph, and Aunt Jill comes back, disappointed that the watch hasn’t been returned. After a full meal and a nap, Ralph wakes and feels the dangerous presence of Catso, who has again pushed through the hole in the screen. Ralph initially cowers in the corner, but as Catso bathes himself, Ralph has an idea. He stands up to Catso, which angers the cat, leading him to knock the cage off the shelf.

Ralph leaps to freedom from the broken bottom of the cage. Catso attempts to pounce on Ralph but is distracted by Chum’s hissing from above. Catso chases Ralph through the craft shop, leaving destruction everywhere. Ralph finds a beam in the wall and evades Catso, much to the cat’s frustration. After several failed attempts, Catso yields and stalks out of the craft shop, leaving Ralph free and safe, filling himself with the spilled seeds from the chase.

Chapter 8 Summary: “Ralph Strikes a Bargain”

The next morning, Lana discovers the mess left behind by the chase and Ralph’s absence. She calls the campers together. Garf figures out that it wasn’t a thief but a cat who caused the damage and likely took the mouse. After an unsuccessful search for Ralph, Aunt Jill puts Garf in charge of fixing the screen, and Lana chastises Catso. Ralph hides in a corner during all the commotion, waiting for an opportunity to get Garf alone and see about the motorcycle.

When Garf returns to fix the screen, Ralph has his opportunity. Garf is delighted that Ralph is alive. Ralph is indignant that Garf believed Catso ate Ralph but refused to believe Catso stole the watch. After some debate, Ralph finds the watch in the bamboo and proves he was telling the truth. Ralph uses this opportunity to offer Garf a deal—Ralph will clear Garf’s name, and Garf will give him back his motorcycle. While Garf and Ralph talk, Lana jumps on the trampoline, chastising Catso for his cruelty and lecturing Sam for his dereliction of duty when he didn’t prevent Catso from attacking Ralph.

Garf asks why Ralph wants the motorcycle, and Ralph tells him he wants to go home to the hotel. Garf points out the practical problems with Ralph’s plan. Garf suggests instead that he bring Ralph back to the hotel in two days when camp is over. Ralph is grateful but pushes Garf to give him the motorcycle after returning to the hotel. Garf asks for details of Ralph’s plan to return the watch and then agrees that if Ralph succeeds, Garf will give Ralph back the motorcycle. Garf hurries to lunch while Ralph prepares himself for the long night to come.

Chapter 9 Summary: “A Dangerous Plan”

After a long night of failed attempts to return the watch, Ralph hears the bugle waking the camp. Its sound brings Karen and the other girls out of their lodge, and Karen spreads her sleeping bag on the grass to air out. Ralph sees his chance at last. He laboriously drags the watch from the hiding place in the bamboo across the camp yard. As he progresses slowly, he feels the shiver down his back connected with Catso.

Catso has seen the movement in the grass and prepares to strike. Sam intervenes, growling at the cat for getting him in trouble and for threatening Ralph, who is now part of the camp and, therefore, Sam’s responsibility. Catso argues with Sam, but Sam’s physical superiority wins out, and Catso gives up. Sam is interested in the watch and asks Ralph about it. After Ralph tells him the whole story, Sam helps Ralph, carrying the watch to Karen’s sleeping bag. After dropping it, however, he points out a flaw in Ralph’s plan—although boys can’t go into the girls’ area, a boy could easily toss the watch onto the sleeping bag from a short distance. Ralph figures out a solution, and Sam guards Ralph while the mouse gnaws a hole into the lining of the sleeping bag to slip the watch inside.

Once Ralph has successfully chewed the hole, Sam leaves to make his rounds inspecting the camp. Having hidden the watch in the sleeping bag, Ralph decides to rest in the soft stuffing since he stayed up all night. He sleeps too long and is awakened by the sleeping bag being moved back indoors. As Karen sits down on her sleeping bag, Ralph squeaks, causing Karen to open the sleeping bag and find him. He runs, but the girls try to catch him, eventually succeeding in putting a hat over him. Karen finds her watch hidden in the hole in her sleeping bag.

Aunt Jill comes in because of the ruckus the girls made catching Ralph. They hurriedly explain to her that Garf couldn’t have taken the watch and show her that they’ve caught the mouse. Aunt Jill suggests they give Garf the mouse to replace the one he lost, and the girls agree. When they lift him up, Karen looks and thinks he looks like Garf’s mouse, but Aunt Jill says mice generally look alike. Aunt Jill brings Ralph to Garf’s lodge and tells him he has been cleared of all suspicion. Aunt Jill gives Garf permission to keep the mouse in the washbasin in the lodge. When she leaves, Ralph crawls into Garf’s pocket and finds his motorcycle.

Ralph reminds Garf of his promises, which Garf confirms. Ralph asks Garf to give Chum some wood for his teeth. Before Ralph settles down to sleep, Garf asks him to ride the motorcycle, and Ralph readily agrees. After Ralph races around the lodge, Garf and Ralph settle down, with Garf promising to get Ralph home in one piece.

Chapters 7-9 Analysis

The end of the novel, in sharp contrast to the middle of the novel, is full of direct action. Ralph spends the middle three chapters trapped in a cage, but when Garf stops coming into the craft shop, Ralph must act. Ralph’s decision to escape, mirroring his decision to run away in the first chapter, is the catalyst for all the action that follows. Ralph’s tussle with Catso, his escape from the cage, his deal with Garf, and the final adventure to return the watch to Karen are a version of the hero’s journey, which will lead him back home to freedom, safety, and a mature understanding of independence. The novel’s climax is multifaceted, encompassing the crises of the stolen watch, the multi-pronged threats to Ralph’s life, and the larger growth of the two primary characters. The falling action is almost literal when Ralph falls asleep in the stuffing of the sleeping bag. Although that sleep is followed by some chaos in the girls’ lodge, Ralph has avoided Catso and returned the watch, therefore resolving his conflicts. The resolution is also essentially literal in that Ralph and the news of the watch’s return are brought to Garf simultaneously, resolving the problems of both mouse and boy.

Garf and Ralph finally fully meet and bond in the last section of the book. Garf and Ralph share a variety of traits—a desire for independence, a frustration with authority, a desire to fully claim their property, and even a temptation toward running away. However, another shared trait—fear—has kept them separate until their crises intersect. Fundamentally, Garf and Ralph both develop beyond childish fears in this last section and meet the major climax of the novel as equals and teammates. Only Ralph knows where the watch is, and only Ralph (with a little help) can return the watch in a way that won’t incriminate Garf. Only Garf can return Ralph’s motorcycle. In their separate desire for independence, the two characters discover that they must rely on one another to find a satisfying resolution, adding a cooperative element to The Relationship Between Personal Responsibility and Independence. Therefore, they both must find a new level of maturity together in order to develop beyond the source of their problems.

Garf and Ralph both need to conquer their fears in the last section of the book. The struggle to face fears is indicative of both The Relationship Between Personal Responsibility and Independence and The Reciprocal Nature of Empathy. While Garf knows he isn’t responsible for the missing watch, his fear of being judged by his peers keeps him from the responsibility he’s shown since Ralph was designated his mouse by Aunt Jill. In his fear, Garf fails to meet his responsibilities and fails to remember the empathy he’s shown to Ralph in the past. Aunt Jill’s recognition of Ralph’s plight demonstrates the importance of empathy, while her insistence that Garf take care of his mouse and live up to the responsibility and independence he asked for highlights the complexity of reciprocal empathy. Garf’s problems are solved because he accepts his responsibility to Ralph.

Ralph must conquer his fear of Catso, which underscores a more metaphorical fear of true freedom and maturity, largely out of desperation. Garf’s fear of suspicion causes Ralph to recognize that life in the cage is tenuous and dependent on the responsibility and independence of others. Ralph takes a major risk by goading Catso to knock the cage to the floor and wins his freedom as a reward. His choice to talk to Garf regardless of Garf’s seeming callousness is both an act of desperation and an act of empathy. He understands, partially because of Chum’s insight, that Garf is afraid of suspicion. That understanding allows Ralph to identify the terms of the deal that returns his motorcycle and offers a path to bonding with Garf. Ultimately, it is shared empathy that returns Ralph’s motorcycle and gets him home safely.