Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Der Störenfried
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love school stories, American life before the First World War, and tales of a young person finding his place, with pranks, rivalries and fierce loyalties.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Varmint is a novel of school life by the American writer Owen Johnson, published in 1910. It follows a boy named Dink Stover through his years at Lawrenceville, a boarding school in New Jersey that Johnson knew from his own youth. Johnson had already written comic tales of the same school, and here he turns to a single boy and watches him grow up.
The book gives you the feel of a world made by boys. There are pranks, rivalries, athletic contests, small cruelties and fierce loyalties, all under the eye of masters who see only part of what happens. Dink is not the model boy of older school stories. He wants to belong, he makes mistakes, and he learns what the other boys really value. In the next few minutes you will meet the school, the boy and the rules he must learn, beginning with what it means to arrive as a new student in a place that already has its own laws.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A new boy meets an old orderFree
- 2Boys make their own justice
- 3Pranks, mischief and the pull of loyalty
- 4Rivalry and the contest for standing
- 5What the school is really teaching
- 6A comic voice with a warm eye
Punkt 1 von 6
A new boy meets an old order
The story begins with Dink Stover arriving at Lawrenceville as a newcomer. He is bright, eager and a little unsure of himself. Like every new boy, he enters a community that has run for years without him and has no need to explain itself.
Johnson shows that the school has two sets of rules. One set is written down and enforced by the masters. The other is unwritten and enforced by the boys, and it matters far more to daily life. A new student learns it by watching, by blundering and by being corrected, often in painful ways.
Dink soon finds that the boys sort one another quickly. Some are admired, some ignored, some mocked. Standing depends on things that seem small, such as how you dress, how you talk, whom you sit with and whether you push yourself forward too soon. The new boy who wants friends must also avoid looking as if he wants them too badly.
This opening sets the question that drives the book. Can a boy find a place among his fellows without losing himself? Johnson tells it with humor, and he lets us laugh at the boys while we still feel what is at stake for them. For a reader today the early chapters work as a picture of how any closed group tests a newcomer.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Der Störenfried
What is The Varmint about?
It is a school novel about Dink Stover at Lawrenceville, a boarding school in New Jersey. It follows his efforts to find friends and standing among the boys, with pranks, rivalries and hard lessons along the way.
Who is Dink Stover?
Dink Stover is the main character, a bright and eager boy who enters Lawrenceville as a newcomer. Johnson later continued his story in Stover at Yale, so he is the hero of more than one book.
When was The Varmint written?
Owen Johnson published it in 1910. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on the author's own memories of Lawrenceville School and the customs of American boarding schools of that time.
Is The Varmint hard to read?
Not hard. The sentences are sometimes long and the slang belongs to the early 1900s. Most scenes are lively and built on dialogue, so the story is easy to follow once you settle in.
What is the main message of The Varmint?
The book suggests that growing up means learning to judge people by character rather than popularity. It shows how young people shape one another and how a boy must hold to his own values among the crowd.