The Mailbox Analysis

Gabe Culligan Pace is the main character in the book The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer. Gabe really wants a family to care for him and he doesn’t want to be alone. Gabe has lived a tough life, his mother died when he was a toddler and he has been from foster home to foster home. Finally, after many years in foster care, Gabe goes to live with his uncle. Unfortunately, Gabe finds his uncle dead and well as the fear of going back to foster care, pushes him to keep the incident a secret. When the truth comes out Gabe finally finds a permanent home when he is adopted by his LA teacher Mr. Bohem. Gabe shows compassion and independence as he learns that life is not always in one’s control, one must learn to move on and accept help.
Throughout the book,

Gabe shows compassion. For example, in Gabe’s Language Arts essay Gabe says that he loves Vernon. This shows that Gabe is compassionate because he realized that he should have told Uncle Vernon that Gabe loved him. Secondly, Gabe shows compassion when Gabe tries to make Mrs. Pickering breakfast. Gabe demonstrates compassion after Mrs. Pickering comforted him after his nightmare, even though it wasn’t necessary Gabe attempts to make Mrs. Pickering breakfast to show that Gabe is grateful for Mrs. Pickering’s kindness. Thirdly, Gabe takes care of Guppy. Specifically, when Gabe makes Guppy a doggy door, also on page 118 Gabe says “I have to get home. Guppy needs me” while he is being taken to the Police Station. This proves that Gabe is compassionate because even though he was being taken to the police station he still worried about Guppy’s needs. All this demonstrates that Gape is compassionate and he shows it throughout the book.
Gabe shows several examples of how to be independent and responsible.

For instance, Gabe continues to go to school after Uncle Vernon dies. This shows responsibility because even though Gabe could have taken a few days off of school to mourn for his uncle or not gone back to school and sent a note in Uncle Vernon’s handwriting, Gabe didn’t, instead, he continued going to school and acted as if nothing had happened. This was the responsible thing to do because going to school is important and most kids don’t enjoy it. Secondly, Gabe makes a tally chart of all the money he had taken from Uncle Vernon’s cash box and titled it “Money Gabe Owes Uncle Vernon. ” This is proven by a quote from Sherif Hewitt on page 144 “For one thing he kept a shipshape house. But that's not all. He kept a tally of all the money he took from his uncle's cash box every cent it seems he called the tally “Money Gabe Owes Uncle Vernon” Isn't that remarkable in this day in age?” This demonstrates how Gabe is responsible because he tallied all the money he took and planned to pay it back. Not only that but Gabe also tallied the money down to every cent without forgetting to tally money or having to be reminded to tally money, this shows that Gabe is responsible as well as independent. Lastly, Gabe kept a clean house after his uncle died. This is also proven in the quote by Sherif Hewitt on page 144 specifically when Sherif Hewitt says “For one thing he kept a shipshape house.” This is significant

because Gabe showed independence by keeping the house clean and making it look like Uncle Vernon was still alive. In conclusion throughout the book, Gabe proves he is very responsible and independent.
By the end of the book, Gabe learns the life is not always in one’s control, one must learn to move on and accept help. This means that Gabe learns that he is not in control of life or death and things will happen that he doesn’t want to happen, but he must deal with these events by letting others help him and by moving on. Gabe first learns that he can’t control what happens in life when his mother dies and he is reminded of it again when Uncle Vernon dies. When Gabe is a toddler his mother dies and Gabe has to move on and accept the help of others because he is so young. However, when Uncle Vernon dies Gabe is old enough to keep it a secret so he doesn't move on or accept the help of others until the end of the book when Gabe goes to Uncle Vernon’s funeral and he lets Mr. Bohem adopt him. An example of when Gabe doesn’t let anyone help him. To conclude, Gabe learns that life is not always in one’s control, one must learn to move on and accept help.
In the book, The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer Gabe Culligan Pace is the main character. Gabe is compassionate and independent as he learns that life is not always in one’s control, one must learn to move on and accept help. The lack of love in the past pushed Gabe to appreciate family more once he had a one that loved him. Gabe was a caring and independent boy who never answered in class or asked for help, however, in the end, Gabe learns that life is not always in one’s control, one must learn to move on and accept help. Overall, it's important to think about Audrey Shafer’s message which is One can’t control life and it’s okay to ask for help.