Rumble Fish Sparknotes

Rumble Fish was published in hardcover by Delacorte Press, New York.

In Rumble Fish, the setting takes place in California in a flashback told by the main character Rusty James.

Some of the main characters in Rumble Fish were Rusty James, the main character and narrator of the story who likes to get in fights. The motorcycle boy, Rusty's older brother, who is very smart, likes to steal motorcycles. Patty, Rusty's girlfriend, who dyes her hair blond, is sometimes a hellcat, and doesn't want her boyfriend to fight.

The theme is poverty. Although Steve and Rusty James argue that their neighborhood is not "the slums," they note that it's "crummy." They live in a poor area. Steve's family is better off because his family apparently has a job, but Rusty James and the motorcycle

boy have to savage, steal, and hope their father won't drink up all of his welfare check before they get a piece of it.

It is written in first-person point of view which allows the reader to see events as Rusty James sees them.

The story is also written using slang. Rusty James would speak but without any curse words. This book is written in a tough, short styles.

S.E. Hinton was born in Tulsa and made her work in 1967. She has also written The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton has always enjoyed reading, but wasn't satisfied with the literature that was being written for young adults, which influenced her to write novels like The Outsiders.

Rusty and Steve meet each other on a beach several years of not seeing each other. Then theres a flashback to when they were 14 and the story begins.

Rusty-James fights Biff Wilcox and hurts him bad but then, Motorcycle boy comes and distracts Rusty so Biff gets up and stabs Rusty in the arm. Biff then runs away.

Rusty-James is with Motorcycle Boy when he decides to break into a pet store releasing all of the animals. The police come and shoot motorcycle boy as he is running with a fish toward the river to set them free.

After the pet store break-in, Rusty James is caught by the police he breaks a window in the police car and cuts himself on the glass causing him to go into

shock.

Rusty James and Steve are back in the present time again. Neither of them went back to the horrible place where motorcycle boy was shot. Steve learned that if you want to get somewhere in life, you have to make up your mind and work hard until you make it. Rusty hasn't decided where he wanted his life to go.