40 pages • 1 hour read
Way of the Warrior Kid
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 21-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary: “Super Aquaman”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying.
Now that Marc has gotten comfortable swimming across the river, Jake wants him to face his fears and jump off the bridge. Marc is reluctant and tries to push for another day of swimming, but Jake insists, “[Y]ou are going off that bridge. Today” (149). When Marc gets to the top, the height is daunting, and his fear freezes him. Jake goes up to join him, and Marc admits that he’s afraid. Jake tells him it’s all right for him to be afraid, “as long as [he] can control it” (153). Preparing to face one’s fear is a good start—taking small steps like submerging his head and learning to swim before taking the leap. Once the preparation is over, it’s best to just do the thing before fear becomes overwhelming. Shouting at the top of his lungs, Marc jumps into the water and then does it again and again.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Ten!”
After teaching Marc to play chess, Jake has Marc do one pull-up, rest, and then go for 10 straight. Not hesitating or questioning this time, Marc jumps up and does 10 and, when Jake asks him to, does 10 more. Marc thanks Jake for all his help, and Jake tells him that it’s not about pull-ups, but “about everything. Everything. […] You have to make things happen. And that is exactly what you did here, and what you can do with almost anything in life. Remember that” (163).
Chapter 23 Summary: “Stand Alone”
It is time for Uncle Jake to leave, and Marc wonders how he can keep being strong and a warrior without his help. Jake tells him, “[T]he warrior remains strong. The warrior must know how to stand alone” (165): Marc has learned enough to keep up his training without Jake’s continual assistance. Marc can even help his friends learn the same things he did so that he can become not just a warrior, but a leader. Regarding leadership, Jake says, “Remember that you don’t know everything. Listen and take advice from other people. Always be ready to learn and try to be better. Those are qualities a leader needs, and you have them” (167). Jake gives him a box, makes a mild joke about Marc still needing a firm handshake, and leaves. Marc opens the box to find a watch with a preset alarm that’ll help Marc keep up his disciplined habits.
Chapter 24 Summary: “First Days Back at School”
Sixth grade is off to a promising start. Marc does well on the fitness baseline test, stunning the other students with 14 pull-ups. During recess, he walks right up to the jungle gym, where once again Kenny Williamson is standing guard. Marc stands right in front of Kenny and tells him, “[Y]ou are not the king of the jungle gym. Not anymore” (173). When Kenny threatens to punch him, Marc doesn’t budge and says, “[G]o ahead and try, and I promise you that you will never forget what I do to you” (174). Kenny has always relied on intimidation and has never actually fought anyone, so when somebody stands up to him, he backs down and walks away. Marc signals that the jungle gym is now open to everyone. When Marc spots Kenny sitting glumly by himself, he remembers the lesson from jiujitsu to “treat people with respect” (176). He invites Kenny to play, and Kenny stops his bullying behavior and plays nicely with the others.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Letter to Uncle Jake”
After two weeks, Marc writes a letter to Jake about his wonderful first day of school and standing up to Kenny. He tells Jake that he has finally come up with his own warrior code, including the provisions that he wake up early, study and train hard, treat people with respect, always be prepared, and stay humble. He even drew a warrior kid symbol. He then tells Jake how others are asking him how he changed so much so quickly and says that he is showing them flash cards and jiujitsu moves, along with other lessons. He then thanks Jake: “Thanks for making me stronger and faster and smarter and better. Thanks for taking me to jiu-jitsu so I won’t get picked on and so I can stick up for others. Thanks for turning me into a warrior kid” (181). Marc closes by telling the reader that they don’t need an Uncle Jake to do what he did; everyone is capable of developing good habits through discipline, and through discipline, they will set themselves free.
Chapters 21-25 Analysis
This last batch of chapters represents the culmination of Jake’s training regimen and its successful results. Marc has gone from hydrophobia to being a skilled swimmer in a short period of time. Jumping from the bridge represents the final challenge, and it is a fitting one because it is quite literally a leap into the unknown. He has grown accustomed to the river and developed enough confidence in his swimming ability over time to eventually swim without Jake’s accompaniment. However, when he jumps, there is no telling what is going to happen when he lands. One of Jake’s final lessons is therefore on the nature of fear, which relates to prior lessons on Confidence and Humility as Mutually Reinforcing. The novel suggests that there is valuable humility in knowing that fear is unavoidable and that everyone, even Uncle Jake, is afraid sometimes, as recognizing this can empower one to push past doubt and anxiety: “So there is nothing wrong with fear. But fear can also be overwhelming. It can be unreasonable. It can cause you to freeze up and make bad decisions or hesitate when you need to act. So you have to learn to control fear” (153). Once Marc learns that his fear is a feeling he can choose to heed or not, the rest is almost easy. When he hits his long-sought target of 10 pull-ups, it is merely a confirmation that “all it took was a good plan and the discipline to execute the plan” (163).
From that point forward, Marc’s triumph is practically preordained because The Warrior Code as a Model for Excellence applies directly to the challenges he faces. He has learned to memorize multiplication tables, so he aces the test. The fitness test requires pull-ups, and Marc surpasses even his own goal. With Kenny Williamson, the challenge is slightly greater, but Marc’s confidence, rooted in the knowledge of what he can do with jiujitsu, overpowers Kenny’s bullying, which is based entirely on posturing with no actual ability. That Kenny instantly backs down and then just as quickly becomes a kind playmate serves the book’s purpose of demonstrating the applicability of the Warrior Code to a host of situations; once again, being a “warrior” is not really about fighting. Nevertheless, it is notable that Marc does back up his words with the implicit threat of violence. While a peaceful resolution may be preferable, the novel implies that there is value in teaching kid children to fight “so [they] can stand up to bullies and protect the weak” (179).
Given that Marc’s confrontation with Kenny marks the denouement of the novel’s major character arcs and themes, it is significant that the novel ends not with this victory but with Marc’s letter to Jake. In part, the letter serves as a final restatement of the novel’s lessons for young readers. It also underscores that Marc, as Jake predicted, can now apply those lessons without external guidance. In that vein, Marc’s personal code reinforces the idea that readers must individualize the book’s message to suit their own circumstances, though certain broad ideas (e.g., that Discipline Equals Freedom, as Marc restates) apply to everyone.
Unlock all 40 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 9,150+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
