76 pages • 2 hours read
Thomas RockwellHow To Eat Fried Worms
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1973A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
Worms and Night Crawlers
Worm is a general term for long, tubular animals that live in water or burrow in the earth. Some are very small, but others can grow to great length. In the story, the worms the boys deal with are night crawlers, which can be up to a foot long.
A night crawler is a very large earthworm, sometimes up to a foot in length, that Alan and Joe pick for Billy to eat. They choose it mainly for its size, which they hope will be too much for Billy. Like many worms, night crawlers are rubbery, squishy, and moist, which makes them somewhat creepy and, to most people, completely gross to eat.
As a literary symbol, worms have been prevalent in literature for centuries, the term often used to encompass other reptilian creatures such as snakes and even dragons and to insinuate themes of death and renewal. The most famous depiction of such a symbol is the snake in Genesis who tempts Eve to eat the apple, leading to the fall of man. While the worms in Rockwell’s novel don’t carry such symbolic significance as good and evil, they do represent a type of renewal for the boys. Through preparing, eating, and fighting over the worms, each of the boys evolves—some for the better, others for the worse—and mature into young adults.
Minibike
A minibike, short for miniature motorcycle, is a powered two-wheel vehicle that’s smaller than a motor scooter with thick wheels for off-road riding. Billy yearns for one; with the $50 he hopes to win from Alan, he can buy a used one. The contest, then, is fought over money for the minibike. Billy softens the impact of his victory by offering to share minibike rides with Alan.
The minibike represents the desires of Billy and his friends. As children, their goals are seemingly trivial; rather than hundreds of dollars or an expensive purchase like a car or house, the boys’ ultimate desire is for a humble $50 minibike. But in the bike they can vest other yearnings: the ability to travel quickly and far, admiration by their peers, membership in an exclusive group, etcetera. The minibike and these these desires that can be satisfied through it push the boys and their story forward.
Horse barn
Much of the worm-eating contest takes place in an abandoned horse barn on Billy’s family farm. Dirty, dusty, and covered in spider webs, the old barn is hardly a fine restaurant in which to consume worms; instead, it adds to the creepy grossness of the project. The horse barn also communicates to the reader the setting for the novel, particularly Billy’s upbringing. It represents the ruralness of the setting and the wholeseome nature of Billy’s childhood.
The horse barn’s tool closet is where Alan tries to lock up Billy so he can’t finish the contest and win the bet. In this way, the symbol of the barn evolves from one of wholesome innocence to a dangerous battleground. This mirrors the tenor of the novel as a whole.
Cistern
A cistern is a tank or well used for storing water. The boys climb down into Billy’s family farm cistern, a dangerous stunt—they could get stuck or drown—that comes back to haunt them. The cistern becomes a symbol that “stores” memories of the boys’ past pranks and the shadowy danger that lurks behind their lighthearted facades.
When Alan tries to put Billy back down in the cistern, it represents the grave lengths the bet has reached. It is such a consequential development that Mr. Forrester steps in, grounding Billy in order to avoid further dangers. Once again, the cistern represents the peril inherent to their pranks.
