Scary Stories for Young Foxes

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 7 Summary: “The Paw”

Part 7, Chapters 1-3 Summary

As told by the storyteller:

Caught in the trap, Mia finds a fox paw writhing with maggots. She realizes that the last fox who was caught must have gnawed off their own leg to escape. She considers doing the same when Uly appears and urges her not to. Together, Mia and Uly manage to spring the trap. Uly reveals that the night before his mother dragged him up the cliffs, she had gone below to visit him. Together, they found a shortcut from the cave to the den above. Then, Mercy dragged him into the open, presenting him to Wynn. Mercy only pretended to shake Uly, and, as planned, she dropped him so that he would land safely on a ledge and could then climb back down to his cave. As Mia and Uly consider how to rescue Mercy, Mia remembers the paw.

Wynn awakens, annoyed by the sound of scratching, and discovers a rotting fox’s paw, roiling with maggots. Odette denies knowing where it came from. When Wynn retires for bed the next day, the paw is lying on his resting spot. Odette swears she buried it. He orders her to drop it into the rock’s chasm. The next night, the paw is back, sticking out of the open stomach of a rabbit he killed. Wynn orders Odette to ensure that Uly is dead and buries the paw himself. He later wakes up to the familiar scratching sound, shouting out in the darkness for Odette, who has already left. The scratching seems to emanate from all directions, and as Wynn watches, the silhouette of a three-legged fox appears. The paw appears again, crawling toward him on its own, and Wynn flees to the cave. A howl sounds, and the bats descend on him.

Mia and Uly urge Mercy to come with them. Mercy takes Uly aside and tells him how proud she is, insisting that he has surpassed all her expectations and is ready to set off on his own. He has become the protector, whereas he was once the one in need of protection. Mercy must leave to find Uly’s sisters but encourages him to go with Mia and find a place that is all their own.

In the present:

The beta kit, disgruntled to learn that this is not the end of Mia and Uly’s story and that more dangers await, departs the storyteller’s den, intending to pretend that it is in fact the conclusion. Only the runt of the litter remains to learn the kits’ fate.

Part 7 Analysis

Throughout the novel, Mia and Uly reaffirm their attachment to one another several times, and one of these moments arises as Uly finds himself in a position to save Mia for the second time. He prevents her from gnawing off her own leg in order to escape, and they are reminded, as they were at Miss Potter’s house, of the fact that no matter how resourceful and determined one might be, there are tasks that simply cannot be accomplished alone. Mia first got an idea of how to open such a trap when she watched Miss Potter capture her mother, but she could never have opened the trap alone. Only with Uly’s help is she able to free herself, just as she required him to hold the knot of Miss Potter’s noose so that she could slip her neck out. Mia has now also realized that Uly was right, and instead of chastising Mia for not listening to his warnings about Mr. Scratch, he is focused on the essential goal of freeing his mother.

Uly and Mia learn a valuable lesson in their plot to defeat Mr. Scratch: Those with an emotional imbalance characterized by a lack of morality and empathy can sometimes be outsmarted and thwarted. Their emotional reactivity can be exploited by those who might otherwise be targeted by their abuse. Unlike Mia and Uly, who each have a solid moral code and are capable of feeling the expected moral conflicts and twinges of guilt that accompany the struggle to adhere to what they believe is right, Mr. Scratch is entirely devoid of guilt and empathy. Instead of adhering to the collective ethical standards of a healthy society, he changes the stated “rules” of any given situation to suit his particular needs and desires at the time. By using the paw to torment and “haunt” Mr. Scratch, Uly and Mia (and Mercy as well) discover that liberating themselves from the harmful influence of someone who is loyal only to their own whims requires creativity and deception. Although Mr. Scratch seems uncommonly ruthless, characters like him are pervasive throughout fictional media and in real life as well; indeed, abundant examples of humans who possess many of these same characteristics abound in correctional facilities, the pages of scientific journal articles, and the personal accounts of those who have encountered them. By triumphing over one of these “dark triad” personality types, Uly and Mia have learned that no matter how much power someone like Mr. Scratch seems to wield, and no matter how unfair or rigged the circumstances, one should never feel required to endure such abuse and tyranny. Instead, it is vital to find a way to make the petty kingdoms of such tyrants come crumbling down.