Wringer (novel)
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Wringer is a Newbery Honor-winning 1998 novel by Jerry Spinelli.
[edit] Plot introduction
Palmer LaRue has to decide if he wants to become a "wringer"[1] or not. One day, a certain pigeon comes into Palmer's life, which causes even more confusion. Palmer then has to decide to both value life and humanity, or be pressured into doing things he does not want to do.
[edit] Plot summary
Wringer is a story of how a 9-10 year old boy overcomes peer pressure and becomes a hero in the eyes of many people. This boy named Palmer is a boy who grew up in a neighborhood where they have a tradition every year of letting pigeons out of a crate and shooting them with shotguns in order to raise money for the city. Boys at the age of 10 would learn how to pick up the wounded birds that have not yet died and wring their necks. Palmer is not one of those kids and refuses to take part in such a horrific ceremony. Pressured by his peers, Palmer convinces his friends that he is one of them so that he would be considered cool by his friends at school. Palmer then takes in a pigeon as sort of a pet named Nipper adding more confusion to his decision. Palmer realizes the people he hung out with aren’t really his friends and decides not to hang out with them anymore. So the day finally came and Palmer was nervous because his pet pigeon had flown off. He identifies one of the wounded pigeons as his own and carries it off the field in the midst of gunfire. Finally, Palmer realizes how he might have changed this tradition because a kid from the audience says to his father that he wants a pigeon for a pet.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ When someone becomes 10 in this community, they have to strangle ("wring") pigeons shot in the annual Pigeon Shooting
