Runaway Ralph

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1970

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “Ralph Hears a Distant Bugle”

Ralph, a small brown mouse, waits for the clock to strike so he can ride his motorcycle. Ralph lives in an old hotel and spends his nights zooming around the empty halls and rooms on the tiny red motorcycle given to him by Keith, a boy who stayed at the hotel for the Fourth of July.

While Ralph waits for the hotel to close, he sees a boy and his parents come into the hotel. After the clock loudly chimes, Ralph and the newcomers hear music coming from some distance away. The boy’s father tells his son, Garf, that the sound they heard was the bugle at the nearby camp playing Taps. Garf doesn’t believe he’ll have fun at camp, and his parents encourage him to be more positive. Ralph is confused by Garf’s negativity, as most kids he sees are excited about camp. Matt, the handyman, guides Garf and his parents to the elevator, telling Garf a joke and coaxing a slight smile from him.

After Ralphs sees Matt go onto the hotel porch and the night clerk fall asleep, the mouse is free to explore the nighttime hotel. He makes the motorcycle engine noise as he speeds through the lobby, up and down the hall, and into the bar area. After eating some leftover peanuts in the bar, he zooms back to the lobby.

In the lobby, Ralph’s Uncle Lester, his mother, and his siblings and cousins are waiting for him. Uncle Lester and his mother lecture him about his risky behavior and selfishness. Uncle Lester insists he let the little mice have a turn on the motorcycle, which Ralph resents. After spending much of the night pushing the little ones on the motorcycle, Ralph discovers the younger mice have been sneaking in extra turns. In a rage, he snatches back his motorcycle and his helmet just as the sun rises and his family scampers away from the waking people.

Ralph’s frustration and rebellious feelings keep him awake. As the sun rises, Ralph hears the bugle from the camp, which excites him and pushes him to a new decision. As he drifts to sleep listening to the sounds of happy children at the camp, he decides to leave the hotel and look for adventure.

Chapter 2 Summary: “The Open Road”

Ralph waits through the day, eager for his opportunity to escape the hotel. After watching Garf leave for camp and witnessing some conflicts between hotel staff, the evening comes, and Matt opens the door, allowing Ralph to speed outside. Ralph tells Matt his plan to run away. Matt understands Ralph’s desire for independence and adventure; however, he won’t help Ralph off the porch—pointing out that independence means relying on yourself instead of others.

Ralph, partially to spite Matt, figures out how to get off the porch without breaking his motorcycle. He lands in the bush and must chew the branches to release the motorcycle. Once free, Ralph sees Matt check the porch, relieved to discover Ralph has solved his problem. Ralph sets out on the road, heading to the summer camp.

Ralph drives for three nights on the highway. He figures out how to avoid the backdrafts of speeding trucks. The ride is exhilarating, especially when Ralph experiences the effect of downhill coasting. Ralph finds the trip exciting and satisfying until the final morning when he reaches the camp.

At the entrance to the camp, he meets Sam, the brown dog who guards the camp. Sam asks Ralph where he’s from and how he got his motorcycle. He’s a pleasant dog but refuses to allow Ralph into the camp. Sam tells Ralph that he’s already in trouble because he allowed a litter of kittens to be dropped off at the camp. After failing to convince Sam, Ralph speeds between the dog’s legs and hides in a clump of leaves. Sam follows him to sniff him out, which surprises Ralph. Ralph tries to escape into a hole. As Sam digs after him, Ralph meets the gopher who lives in the hole. The gopher tells Ralph to leave, and Ralph begs him for help escaping Sam. The gopher lets him stay, but only until the dog stops digging. The breakfast bell rings, calling Sam and the camp children away from the burrow.

Chapter 3 Summary: “An Educational Toy”

After Sam stops digging, the gopher tells Ralph he needs to leave the burrow. Ralph begs to stay, but the gopher points out that Sam will be back after he eats his breakfast. Ralph goes out into the sun and slowly rides until he finds a clump of bamboo. He listens to the sounds of the morning camp as he slowly drifts off to sleep.

Ralph is awakened by a weight pressing down on him. Catso, the camp’s tomcat, has pinned him to the ground and is using him as an object lesson for the litter of kittens. After a few minutes of terrifying danger as Catso plays with him, Ralph is rescued by Garf’s butterfly net. Garf shows Ralph to Aunt Jill, who suggests Garf can keep Ralph in a cage in the craft shop.

In the craft shop, three girls crowd around Garf and Ralph, gushing over how cute Ralph is. The girls beg to feed Ralph, but Aunt Jill says that Garf can feed his own mouse. Garf, angry and embarrassed, stomps out of the craft shop. The girls complain that Garf is mean because he stays by himself. Aunt Jill encourages them to try to understand that Garf is having a difficult time at camp since it’s his first year. The girls poke at Ralph while Aunt Jill defends Garf. Ralph stays very still, hoping the girls will get bored and Garf will come back. Ralph believes that Garf will understand him and understand the importance of the motorcycle.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

Runaway Ralph follows a linear and chronological structure that mirrors Ralph’s physical and personal journey. In the first three chapters, Ralph zooms around the hotel until his family stops him. He leaves the hotel and encounters newfound freedom on the road. He successfully reaches the camp but discovers that it’s full of dangers and conflicts he didn’t imagine when he set out on his initial trip. Each of the first three chapters covers an element of his travels with the third chapter ending with Ralph in a cage. His position at the end of the third chapter signifies that his quest for independence and freedom has ironically led to confinement and dependence. This irony foreshadows his later revelation that he likes his home and the hotel.

The beginning of the novel introduces Ralph and several other major characters. Cleary puts Ralph in conflict with both his uncle and mother, as well as his younger siblings, demonstrating that Ralph is in a liminal space between young childhood and adulthood. This position in between generations is challenging for Ralph, which causes him to look beyond the world of mice for another option. Ralph sees Garf for the first time and feels an initial sense of kinship with the “medium-sized boy” (2), who reminds him of Keith, which creates a direct connection between the first and second book. The possible connection between Ralph and Garf is part of what drives Ralph to seek adventure outside of the hotel—outside of his species and his family.

The first three chapters of Runaway Ralph establish three of the four major themes of the novel. Ralph’s clashes with his parental figures and siblings, his trips to the hotel bar, and his ultimate choice to run away introduce The Allure of Rebellion. When Ralph insists to Matt that he needs independence, Matt provides a direct example of The Relationship Between Personal Responsibility and Independence when he refuses to lift Ralph’s motorcycle to the ground: “If I lifted your motorcycle down the steps, you would be depending on me […] and depending on others is not being independent” (29). Ralph’s hope that Garf will be a boy like Keith who can understand Ralph hints at The Reciprocal Nature of Empathy: Ralph’s intuitive understanding of Garf indicates that Garf will be able to understand Ralph. Aunt Jill also shows empathy when she defends Garf to the girls, suggesting that an adult’s role is to model empathetic behavior to encourage it.

The Motorcycle is a multifaceted symbol that recurs throughout the novel as a representation of independence and freedom. In the first two chapters, Ralph’s motorcycle is both the literal vehicle of Ralph’s rebellion and independence and a barrier to that exact rebellion and independence. His use of the motorcycle in the hotel allows him to access forbidden areas, demonstrating his desire to rebel against his parental figures’ expectations. However, that access is in direct contrast to Uncle Lester forcing Ralph to stop his exploration to give his siblings a turn. The motorcycle is Ralph’s means of escape and a symbol of independence, but it’s also the primary problem in getting off the porch to start the journey. Finally, his loss of the motorcycle in the third chapter indicates a loss of freedom, reinforced by the introduction of the cage.

The Camp Bugle motif is introduced as the catalyst of Ralph’s decision to run away. Initially, the sound is a mystery, but Garf’s arrival reveals that the music is a bugle for camp. Realizing the source of the music gives Ralph the idea that there is a place nearby with lots of kids and lots of opportunities for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In this first section, the bugle is a figurative call-to-arms for Ralph, suggesting to him that he has options beyond the hotel: “The rousing notes of the bugle […] increased the feeling of rebellion in Ralph. As the last strains of the bugle call hovered in the clear mountain air, Ralph made up his mind” (22). The first chapter establishes the importance of the bugle and offers the potential for complication within that importance in the contrast of the initial bugle song with the “rousing” song at the end of the chapter.