49 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine ApplegateThe One and Only Bob
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Bob
Bob, the lovable protagonist of The One and Only Bob, is a dynamic character who undergoes significant change and development through the course of the novel: He develops courage, becomes more selfless, learns to forgive, and redeems a sense of identity.
Bob loves his life with Julia, especially visiting his friends at the park and receiving cuddles and belly scratches. He does, though, struggle with a loss of identity in this domestication. He prided himself on his self-sufficiency, his confidence, and his roguish charm as a stray dog who slipped in and out of the animal enclosures at the mall, sourcing his own food and company. It is a point of pride for him that he used to be a stray, and equally it becomes a point of contention when he feels that he has become coddled and “soft” in the year living with Julia. It turns out that Bob’s main source of self-consciousness and insecurity is his secret suspicion that he is actually a coward.
He is tested physically, mentally, and emotionally by the terrifying storm, where his intervention saves many animals’ lives. In particular, he leaves the park alone to struggle through destruction and flood water to find his long-lost sister, Boss. Even more admirably, he braves these elements again to save Boss’s son Rowdy—firstly from the flood, and then from the jaws of the wolf Kimu. These heroic feats require Bob to rediscover his “inner wolf,” a part of himself that was dormant in his year of domesticated comfort. In doing so, Bob proves to everyone, most importantly to himself, that he is not a coward but is in fact brave and selfless.
Bob also shows courage in learning to fully trust and love his human family. After being cruelly abandoned on the side of a highway, Bob staunchly disagrees with the “man’s best friend” adage. However, after Boss urges Bob to practice forgiveness, he focuses instead on humans’ empathy, kindness, and courage. At the end of Part 3, Bob jumps into the family car, symbolizing his forgiveness and growing trust. Previously, he associated cars with the trauma of his abandonment, and his leaping willingly into the car illustrates his choice to let go of the hurt of the past and to trust Julia to care for him.
In learning to love and trust, Bob becomes less self-centered. He learned as a stray to take care of “numero uno” to survive—but when he saves Boss and Rowdy, this selflessness changes his trajectory and ultimately enriches his life when Rowdy and Boss come to live with him.
Boss
Boss is the iconic street-toughened stray: “tough as old jerky” (265). She is thin and bears battle scars, has had numerous litters on the streets, and has never had a permanent home with human owners. While Bob sleeps on a wonderfully soft blanket, Boss is happy with her threadbare towel in the shelter cage. She has learnt to expect little from life and is used to fending for herself.
Surprisingly for Bob, though, Boss still has the capacity to love and trust humans and encourages Bob to do the same. When Boss arrives at Bob, George, Sara and Julia’s home at the end of the novel, Bob is able to resolve his guilt about abandoning her on the side of the highway, for which he had loathed himself. Fortunately, Boss reassures Bob that, as he was only a puppy, it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t help her. Boss gets the “happy ending” of living in a safe and comfortable home with her son Rowdy after being separated from all her other litters.
Julia
Kind and patient, Julia is the perfect owner for the skeptical and disobedient Bob. She is attentive to Bob’s needs, walking him daily and frequently taking him to see his friends at the park. Julia and her family, as Bob is confident they will, find and rescue Bob and Rowdy after the storm abates.
Julia spends time and energy trying to train Bob, even in the face of his deliberate and constant disobedience. Julia tells him (with an exasperated sigh) that he is “a challenging student” (58), but she never stops working with him. She is relentless in her efforts, eventually persuading Bob to get into the car (the command that Bob most stubbornly refused) after the storm. Bob’s entering the car symbolizes his decision to trust and obey Julia more.
Ivan
Ivan is the epitome of a steady, reliable, and understanding friend. He is perceptive to his friend’s moods and feelings and knows intuitively when Bob is troubled with his identity crisis, perceptively asking, “You Okay?” Ivan follows Bob’s scent to the animal shelter and acts bravely and kindly in saving Bob, Boss, and all the other animals from the flood. Later, Ivan sees Bob’s disappointment over Boss’s disappearance, and he attempts to check in and to comfort him, saying gently that he’s “so sorry about Boss” (322).
Ivan was taken from Africa and lived much of his life in the cramped enclosure in the mall. To Bob, Ivan’s life illustrates the damage that interfering humans can cause in the lives of animals. Fortunately, Ivan’s enclosure (called Gorilla World) in the park is large and comfortable and imitates his natural habitat in Africa. It is also fortunate for Ivan that Bob is owned by the head groundskeeper’s daughter, Julia, so he can be frequently visited by his best friend.
Kimu
Kimu the wolf, with “paws the size of hamburger buns,” “lethal claws,” and “chilling, dangerous eyes” (165), is the archetype of the untamed wild beast. He is presented as the antithesis to the pampered Bob and is a vehicle for Bob’s rediscovery of his own “inner wolf” when Bob must stand up to him in the climax of the novel. It is apt that it is Kimu whom Bob must confront in this scene; Bob’s growling and lunging at him contrasts completely with Bob’s earlier fearful response to Kimu. This change illustrates his growing courage and completes his transition from coddled lapdog to undisputed hero of the story.
After his interaction with Bob and Rowdy, Kimu proudly howls—and then runs away, never to be discovered by park workers. Kimu is a wild creature raised in captivity who yearns to be free, and Bob describes him as a “majestic animal.” His refusal to be recaptured is consistent with the powerful, almost mystical and otherworldly animal that Bob describes.
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