Men of Stone

Plot summary

The novel follows protagonist Ben Conrad, a fifteen-year-old boy struggling with family affairs, school, and bullying.

Ben is surrounded by girls at home: three older sisters and his mother. His father died when he was only five years old. Now that he has grown older, he knows he has to step up and be the man of his family.

His Aunt Frieda comes to visit and he finds out how strong an old woman can truly be. The plot contains the story of Aunt Frieda's past life in Russia and her love and determination for her family. Rapidly, the two start building an unexpected relationship that strengthens both, especially Ben who learns to stand up for himself and believe in what he does.

Author

Men of Stone was the second book that was written by author Gayle Friesen in 2000. The first book Friesen wrote was Janey's Girl (1998). There are three more novels after Men of Stone; Losing Forever, The Isabel Factor, and For Now. The protagonists of Friesen's novels are teenagers around the junior high school level. The novels focus on problems sometimes encountered by young teens in daily life, such as bullying and revenge.

Ben

In the novel, Ben is a round character since he is the protagonist; therefore, we know a lot of information about him throughout the novel.

He is also a dynamic character. At first, he is a good son at home; a good student at school. Ben is very kind to everyone, even to Claude, who is a bully to him and humiliates him about the dance. Later on in the novel, Ben is being consumed by anger and filled with hatred. He wanted to exact revenge on anyone who had once teased him about his dancing, who had once hurt his relative friends, and who do not understand him. During the "dance" (fight) with Claude, he realized he is turning into a man of stone; he finally noticed and understood what he had done was wrong. He let himself be controlled by revenge. Therefore, he stopped and went back to his normal self once again.

Aunt Frieda

Aunt Frieda, who visit Ben in the beginning of the novel. She has relatively similar experience to Ben. Her husband, Henry, was being taken away to prison by the official, which she called them the men of stone. Later on, when she went to visit Henry, her son has gone missing and never coming back again. After all, she had once think about revenge to the men of stone, but she realize it is not the only to solve the problem. Don't be consumed/controlled by hatred. Therefore, she understand Ben's situation very well and wanted to use her story to tell him what she has realize.

Conflict

Man Vs. man - Ben Vs. Claude (physically) Man Vs. himself - Ben Vs. the decision he must make. Whether he will become a man of stone or pacifism.

Initial incident

initial incident is when Claude and his mates assault Ben into the hospital. That is when he is really think about revenge and take action.

Climax

The climax is when Ben and Claude "dance" in the school gym. It's the turning point of the story; the time Ben need to make a decision. Whether he'll turn in to a man of stone or become a pacifism.

Theme

This novel, Men of Stone, has reflect our daily life. Therefore, author, Gayle Friesen, using Ben as an example to call for action from all readers. Through the scene where Claude was humiliating Ben, it show us what bully will cause later one and we need to help to stop it from happening. Also, by the revenge mind of Ben's has told us don't be consume by anger, don't let hatred define you. Revenge isn't the best nor the only way to solve the problems, there are other ways you would choose.