Lawn Boy

“I read at least two books a week, sometimes as many as four. Call it self-improvement. You see, old Mike Muñoz would like to figure out who the hell he actually is, what he’d actually like to do with his life.”

Reading is a big part of Mike’s journey of self-discovery. He often chooses books that portray underdog characters fighting against powerful, selfish forces because he can relate to their struggles. Evison’s conversational, casual writing style is evident in the above quote: “You see, old Mike Muñoz would like to figure out who the hell he actually is.”

“And maybe I’d tell little Mike to start by looking outside himself instead of within the murky, undefined recesses of his heart. In my experience, a kid doesn’t gain much through introspection. A kid gets more by throwing a ball or wrestling with a dog […]”

This passage suggests the book’s philosophy, that people discover themselves and their talents by interacting with others and experiencing life, not through introspection. In the story, even bad jobs and lousy bosses help Mike on his journey. At the end of the story, Mike expresses his gratitude to the deeply flawed characters who helped him achieve his dream, even keeping some of those flawed individuals as friends, such as Nick. When Mike stops reflecting on how woeful his life is and starts acting, he achieves success.

“‘Ah, okay,’ she said, scribbling down the order as she shot me a sly little wink. So sympathetic, so understanding. She could tell right away that Nate had special needs. What was stopping me from asking this woman out?”

Remy’s patience with Nate impresses Mike. His hesitation to enter into a relationship with her makes him question himself, and he eventually finds the answer to why he sends Remy mixed signals—he’s gay. In the above quote, Evison again varies his sentence rhythm, using dialogue, a sentence fragment, a declarative sentence, and a rhetorical question.

“A few weeks after that picture was taken in front of the fire station, we lost our house on the res when the landlord jacked our rent without warning. […] For nearly a month, Nate, Mom, and I lived in our 1987 monkey-shit-brown Astro Van, eating cold SpaghettiOs out of the can, reading by flashlight through the fog of our own breath, and showering weekly at the state park.”

The economic hardship of Mike’s upbringing contrasts sharply with the lifestyles of the wealthy homeowners whose lawns he mows and landscapes. He is particularly resentful when a McMansion owner treats him callously by making him perform chores, such as picking up dog poop, which have nothing to do with the job he was hired for.

“Truman is an uptight little bearded guy about five foot three, who’s always home on Tuesdays. I have no idea what he did to become so rich, but my guess is next to nothing. Whatever the case, he sure doesn’t know how to enjoy it. Every time you look up, the guy is watching you out a window […]”

Mike implies that anyone who is home all day on a Tuesday doesn’t have to work for a living. Mike also resents this wealthy homeowner because he forces him to cut the lawn with an old rotary mower to avoid noise. Truman shows his racist attitude when he responds to a comment from Tino by saying, “No hablo espanol” (33).

“A dog-shit picker-upper? I looked in the yellow pages, and guess what? I couldn’t find one. So that leaves you, Mike. Is this gonna be a problem? Because I know Tino’s cousin is looking for work. […] Look, every crew needs one, and it turns out you’re my dog-shit guy. Get the hell over there and clean the deck.”

This passage shows how the landscaping company’s entitled rich clients force the workers to do demeaning chores that have nothing to do with lawn work. This particular incident leads Mike to quit his job. It is the first instance of his standing up for himself, which eventually leads to him achieving his dream when he and Tino open their own landscaping company.

“I think the appeal for me was that Doug Goble had confidence, charisma even, though he was poor like me and, like me, lived on the res in a manufactured home with dirty siding and a cluttered carport. Doug Goble could talk to girls and adults. He was decisive and self-assured, which made him persuasive.”

Even though Goble is a flawed character, a local real estate robber baron who would do anything for a listing, Goble’s confidence and decisiveness impresses Mike at an early age. Mike needs to overcome his self-doubts in order to succeed. Goble plays a role in Mike’s growth despite not dealing straight with him when Mike was his employee.

“Look, I don’t want you to feel like anything was your fault—me leaving and the rest of it. It’s not your fault I couldn’t deal with you or your brother or your mom, that’s on me. You guys were probably fine, hell, I don’t know, you were kids. I just didn’t want you, okay? You’re not what I signed on for. And that’s not your fault.”

This scene with Mike’s father explains why at age 11, Mike is “awkward, insecure, mired in doubt about myself and the world around me” (75). Throughout the story, Mike has to summon the strength to overcome the lack of self-confidence that likely stems from his neglectful upbringing.

“I’m not defending Nick, exactly. It’s just that no matter what a narrow-minded dickhead he is, he’s family. All these years, I’ve had no choice but to accept him, in spite of his bigotry and shallowness and willful ignorance.”

The fact that Mike continues to be friends with Nick shows his loyalty and forgiveness. Nick also accepts Mike’s identity as a gay man and continues to be his friend even though he is homophobic. Through Nick’s character, Evison shows how characters (and people) can be complex, with both positive and negative traits.

 “A minor setback, Muñoz, trust me. Nothing to worry about. Stay the course, comrade. Stand by and think big, Muñoz.”

Chaz is still the eternal optimist even as he is being led away in handcuffs. The owner of several dubious businesses, Chaz is somewhat of a charlatan. However, Mike learns to think big and have confidence from him. Through Chaz, Evison again shows the complexity of people: Chaz is a criminal, but he is also a dreamer.

“The way you build an ironclad network is by doing favors for people. Especially if it helps you. Case in point, hiring you: I get a bunch of landscaping done, and you own me a favor.”

Goble’s business approach is a bit too cold and calculating for Mike. However, Mike learns some things about confidence from him and to take before and after pictures of his work.

“And there it was: the monkey, the burdensome, shameful, flea-bitten pest that had been clinging mercilessly to my back since the dawn of puberty, the one howling ceaselessly in my ears through adolescence and into adulthood, the one Nick continually teased and fed peanuts to, that monkey had just been served to me on a golden platter.”

The monkey is a metaphor—a comparison without using “like” or “as”—for Mike’s confused and insecure feelings about his sexual identity. Remy has just offered to go home with him, but Mike is unable to get the “monkey” off his back. He declines her offer.

“The neighborhood was outrageously idyllic, with gently meandering lanes, lined by colonnades of ancient oaks and maples, some of them seven or eight feet in diameter. In the middle of everything lay parklike grounds, punctuated sparsely with old cedars. The grass was old and cropped close like a tennis court, a little piebald in places, but green and neatly uniform.”

This is one of many landscaping images in the novel. The word “old” is repeated along with “ancient.” One can imagine that people with old, established money live in this neighborhood, and at Piggot’s party, that is exactly who Mike encounters. A bartender at the party describes the guests as “inbred” people with thin lips.

“Viewed from the outside, Piggot’s place was meticulous: a neat wall of laurel, pruned to a vertical face. But inside the perimeter, the place was wild. Out-of-control hydrangeas. Blighted juniper. Rogue lavender. My old nemesis, morning glory, had claimed one of the outbuildings.”

Evison uses landscaping as a metaphor for Piggot, the wealthy mansion owner who offers Mike a landscaping job after he learns that Mike is an aspiring writer. On the outside, Piggot appears to be a congenial gentleman. However, on the inside, he is rotten and double-crosses Mike.

“‘You know, my son Richard wrote a little poetry in college. Nothing published, of course. Eventually, he outgrew it.’

‘I guess there’s hope for me,’ I said.”

The exchange takes place between Mike and Piggot. It reveals how some of the wealthy people in the novel do not value anything, such as poetry and art, that is not related to growing their wealth.

“He had a weak chin and thin lips—unmistakably one of them.”

A bartender has told Mike that the rich people at the party all look alike because they inbreed to keep their money in the family. Mike recognizes one of them, who turns out to be Piggot’s son. The passage is an example of the grim or gallows humor that Evison employs throughout the story.

“You’re looking at an unmitigated failure. I’ve foiled expectation at every turn. I’ve done nothing to distinguish myself, nothing on the strength of my own character. I’m a walking disappointment—to myself, to my family, to the world at large.”

This passage reveals how expectations have a big impact on people’s perceptions of their own worth. Richie, the son of a rich man, views himself as a failure because he has not met his family’s expectations. He sees Mike as a success: Even though Mike is a struggling lawn boy from a poor family, he is already “exceeding anybody’s expectation” (213). The exchange shows that in some ways it may be easier for one to rise from poverty than for one to grow up in the shadow of wealth and privilege.

“You see how it is, people? The money grubbers of the world will collude and conspire, and they’ll stop at nothing to keep you down. They’ll trade your sorry ass like a commodity, then laugh about it over cigars.”

Mike makes this observation after Piggot rescinds his original job offer of $29.90 hourly after he speaks with Gobles, who tells him that he will no longer be employing Mike. Mike stands up for himself and quits, showing his growing self-confidence and self-worth.

“Do you want to live in a world of wide boulevards, no sidewalks, and nothing but box stores on all sides? A world where nobody walks? A world where one percent of the population accounts for eighty-five percent of the wealth?”

In this passage, Andrew presents his idealist rationale for saving the world through protest. He convinces Mike to go along with him and join in an Occupy Walmart protest. The protest events help them to bond and become closer friends.

“Well, isn’t that where everybody starts? C’mon, no limits, no excuses. Get after it, Michael. Fake it till you make it. You can do anything you want.”

Andrew’s calls himself a “wannabe” is to encourage Mike to pursue his goals of writing and topiary art. Even though Andrew expresses his own self-doubts in the story, his empathy drives him to encourage others to be confident. Andrew’s encouragement and to-do lists help Mike achieve his goals.

“Who am I kidding, Michael? I’m a phony. All my lists are bullshit. All my talk, all my posturing, all my big ideals. No wonder my father’s ashamed of me and my mother’s embarrassed of me. […] I ate a hotdog at the Walmart protest. I’m a complete hypocrite! Look at me: I wear leather shoes. I bank at Wells Fargo. I’ve never even had a dog. Who am I to decry puppy mills?”

Andrew expresses self-doubts just like Mike. However, he still manages to help Mike overcome his own low self-esteem. They complement each other in a way that boosts each other’s morale. In fact, Mike responds to Andrew’s self-deprecation in this passage by telling him he’s an inspiration.

“And it seemed like the more lists we made, the bigger my life felt by extension and the more possibilities that seemed to be out there for old Mike Muñoz, if he was only willing to think beyond the confines of his experience, if he could only summon the courage and the wherewithal to break the patterns that defined him, raze the walls that imprisoned him. If only he could believe in himself. And I was beginning to.”

Andrew’s to-do lists help Mike to believe in himself and what he is capable of accomplishing. Throughout the novel, he suffers from self-doubt and low self-esteem. Now, with Tino’s offer to be a partner in his own landscaping business and Andrew’s encouragement, he has finally entered a new phase in his life—one where he controls his destiny.

“Look, bro. I got to thinking about it. And as much as it grosses me out, you sucking dick and the rest of it, I gotta admit you’re pretty fucking brave. It takes guts to be a fag—I couldn’t do it.”

In his own way, Nick tells Mike that he accepts his new identity and will continue to be his friend, even though he is clearly still homophobic. The fact that Mike accepts Nick’s “apology” here and keeps him as a friend shows how loyal and forgiving Mike is.