Book Report: Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes

Which is better? Stay fat to keep a good friend or being able to get skinny and make new friends. That is one of the main questions shown throughout the story. In this book “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes.” Eric, one of the main characters, is one of the ugliest kids in the school along with a girl named Sarah Byrnes who has scars on her face from when she ‘supposedly’ knocked a pot of boiling water on her face when she was younger but as we find out later throughout the story we learn that it was really her abusive dad, Virgil Byrnes, is the one that pushed her face onto a hot stove. The main reason Eric is friends with her is because they are both ugly so they just became friends with each other mostly because they didn’t have anyone else.
Crutcher makes Eric the main character a troubled, curious, and nice character.
In this book “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes” Eric is portrayed as a troubled character throughout the story.
When Eric was younger his dad left him. Eric talks about in beginning of the story about how his dad left him and his mom when he was very young and how he hasn’t seen or talked to him since then. Eric having no dad to be his role model or to be someone he can look up to has affected his life and made him a troubled person. Eric’s best and only real friend Sarah is in the hospital. Eric visits Sarah in the hospital many times, but she refuses to talk and as we read we figure out that she’s not talking because she knows if she does she will be kicked out of the hospital because they will think she cured. This makes Eric a troubled person because now he doesn’t really have a friend and he is worried for her and at first he doesn’t know why she is talking so this would make him more worried for her. Another reason Eric is a troubled character is because he is being chased by Virgil Byrnes, Sarah’s abusive father, Virgil is chasing Eric because Eric know the truth about what happened to Sarah’s face and wants her to get justice but Virgil wants to keep it quiet so he doesn’t have to go to jail. This makes him troubled because Sarah’s dad wants to hurt him. He can’t do much of anything to stop him so he has to remain fearing for his life. This shows that the author Chris Crutcher has made Eric a troubled
character.
Eric is also portrayed as a curious character throughout the story. Eric wonders what really happened to Sarah’s face because he knows she is not completely telling the truth when she says it was from a pot of boiling water that she accidentally pulled on herself. So he starts to ask people about it like Dale, a former bully from school, as he seeks to find the truth. This makes Eric curious character because he wonders about what really happened. Eric is also curious about why Sarah won’t talk when she is the hospital. Eric goes to the hospital to visit Sarah and tries to get her to talk but he can’t get her too he also tries to think of deeper reason why she won’t talk. Lastly Eric is curious about why Sarah wanted Dale to help with “Crispy Pork Rines,” a newspaper that Sarah and Eric did together. Eric doesn’t understand why Sarah would want his help because he bully’s them also he doesn’t know why he would even want to help anyway. This shows that the author has made Eric a curious character throughout the story.
Eric is also portrait as a nice character throughout the story. An example of Eric being nice is Eric always visits Sarah in the hospital he could just forget about Sarah and enjoy his life without her but instead he decides to go visit her and stay in touch with her. Another example is Eric takes Jody on a date. Eric talks about wanting to take Jody out on a date and eventually he does. He takes her to a restaurant and they eat dinner together. Lastly, Eric tries to stay fat for Sarah. Eric starts to become skinny because of his swimming but he thinks if he becomes skinny Sarah won’t want to be friends with him anymore because the reason they are friends is they are both ugly and being fat has made him that way. He also is afraid Sarah wont like him anymore is because he starts making new friends because he isn’t fat anymore but he decides to try to eat as much as he can so he can remain fat for Sarah to stay friends with her. As shown the author, Chris Crutcher has portrayed Eric as a nice character throughout the story.
Chris Crutcher, the author of “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes” makes Eric, the main character, a troubled, curious, and nice character. In the book, Eric is shown as troubled by his father leaving him when he was young, his best friend being in the hospital, and being chased by Sarah’s abusive father, Virgil. He is shown as a curious character by wondering about Sarah’s face and why she won’t talk and also why she wants Dale to work with them on the newspaper. Lastly, he is shown as a nice character by visiting Sarah in the hospital frequently, taking Jody on a date, and trying to stay fat for Sarah. As you read through the story you will see that Eric is a troubled, curious and nice character.