The Benefits of Being an Octopus

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-20

Chapters 21-24

Chapters 25-28

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary

Zoey’s social studies class debates which animal is the best. The teacher, Ms. Rochambeau, scolds Zoey for not bringing her assignment—even after Zoey tells her that she can debate without it because she knows the her material. Ms. Rochambeau insists that Zoey provide the completed packet and doesn’t let her participate in the class discussion. Zoey mentally notes how the strongest debaters in class, Matt and Kaylee, don’t read from their packets and feels that Ms. Rochambeau is judging her unfairly.

Matt argues that the orca is the best animal because it shares its kill with the rest of the pod. To the class’s delight, he passes out Swedish fish to demonstrate. Kaylee, the girl who bullies Zoey, makes a Darwinian argument for owls because they kill off the weakest chipmunks and let only the strong ones survive. Even though Zoey identifies with the weak, non-self-sufficient chipmunks, she agrees with Kaylee’s assessment.

Chapter 6 Summary

Zoey goes to the Pizza Pit after school to take Hector home on her way to pick up Bryce and Aurora from the bus stop. There, she talks to Connor, Kara’s kind-hearted coworker, who is supportive of Zoey and her family.

A tense moment arises when Zoey spends too long talking with Connor and is late picking up Bryce and Aurora from the bus. Even though she’s only late by a few minutes, the kids start to panic when they don’t see Zoey in her usual spot. Aurora sees Zoey across the highway and darts into traffic to meet her. Zoey must run into traffic to rescue her while carrying Hector and his diaper bag. When a driver honks and yells at Zoey, she realizes that Hector isn’t wearing a coat even though it’s January in Vermont.

Meanwhile, Bryce begins screaming on the other side of the street. Once Zoey manages to bring Aurora and Hector safely back to the bus stop, she calms Bryce by bending down next to him and saying, “‘Bryce, I have a rock for you that I need you to hold’” (36). She repeats this several times, each time using the same phrase, until he calms down. Zoey reveals that she began this tactic to calm Bryce down on the day that his and Aurora’s father left.

Chapter 7 Summary

Just as Zoey finishes calming Bryce down, she encounters another trial: Ms. Rochambeau’s car pulls up beside her as she’s wrangling Bryce, Aurora, and Hector. Ms. Rochambeau witnessed the entire event. She asks Zoey if she’s okay and if she really completed her packet. Zoey answers yes to both questions. To her surprise, Ms. Rochambeau says that Zoey reminds her of herself at that age.

At home, Zoey struggles with the toaster (which clearly is broken) and looks to Lenny for help, but he dismisses her inability to work the toaster, saying that she’s just as incompetent as her mother. When he sees that Bryce’s eyes are red, Lenny tells him that he better not have been crying. Bryce becomes withdrawn and goes to his room. Zoey notes that when Bryce has his nightmares that night, at least she has the rocks to give him.

Chapter 8 Summary

Before her social studies class, Zoey becomes so anxious about presenting her argument for the octopus that she throws her completed debate packet in the garbage. She tells Ms. Rochambeau that she forgot it again. Even though Zoey fears her teacher’s disappointment, she fears her classmates’ judgment even more.

Ms. Rochambeau finds Zoey’s completed debate packet in the trash and leaves Zoey a note asking her to attend debate club during the social studies and science block period from now on. Zoey knows that she must attend but promises herself that she won’t participate. She finds comfort and agency in opting out. Even if she can’t control events, she can choose to participate as little as possible.

Chapters 5-8 Analysis

These chapters introduce Zoey’s school life and how she interacts with her peers. She recognizes that kids at school see her as less-than because she’s poor and comes from a different cultural background. Zoey has enough self-awareness to know that she looks scruffy next to her classmates, but she doesn’t seem motivated to change. Matt Hubbard’s debate presentation provides a stark contrast by showing insight into his character. He’s gregarious and confident as he shares fish with the class to demonstrate the orca’s nature of sharing with the pod. By contrast, Zoey feels insecure and isn’t self-assured.

The scene when she rushes to pick up all her siblings after school emphasizes one reason why: While ostensibly some of her classmates can go directly home and focus on their studies, play with their friends, or participate in sports, she must be her siblings’ caregiver. The fact that Hector isn’t wearing a coat despite Vermont’s January cold gives another glimpse into the family’s strained circumstances and the difficulty of Zoey’s position. Her teacher’s comment that she used to be just like Zoey adds intrigue to the narrative.

When Lenny berates Zoey for being unable to work the toaster without his help, Zoey thinks to herself: “I am not my mother” (39-40). It’s significant that this line is italicized, as the author rarely uses this formatting choice. The conversation about the toaster is one of the few direct interactions between Zoey and Lenny, and the moment encapsulates Zoey’s dilemma. She’s confident in her intellectual and practical abilities but doesn’t think she can convince others that she has them. Therefore, she doesn’t contradict Lenny out loud. Like her mother, Zoey avoids incurring his wrath.

Despite all of Zoey’s adult responsibilities, she’s only in seventh grade. Middle school is a time when young people are feeling out their identities relative to their families, classmates, and the world. They’re looking for role models. Given Zoey’s abusive father figure and a mother whom she deems incompetent, Zoey has no positive role models until Ms. Rochambeau enters the narrative.

Though Ms. Rochambeau emerges as a potential role model because she identifies with Zoey, Zoey has long practiced subtly defying authority figures, and it’s unclear whether she’ll see Ms. Rochambeau as someone she should emulate rather than defy. The depth of Zoey’s self-consciousness and the negative impact it has on her school life is apparent when she throws her assignment paperwork in the trash. These chapters are important to Zoey’s character arc because although she still participates in school unwillingly, she’s beginning to break out of her shell.