The story “The Whipping Boy”, written by Sid Fleischman, talks about a prince and a whipping boy getting kidnapped and what they experienced. Prince Brat always does bad things on purpose in order to see the whipping boy Jemmy get punished. One day, Prince Brat and Jemmy run away. But in a surprise, they were caught by a pair of bandits named Cutwater and Billy. Billy lets Jemmy write a note. He made sure that the note was ok then he sent the note to the king. Then when Cutwater was also out, the two boys escaped out and suddenly met a girl named Betsy and her dancing bear Petunia. They rode on a wagon and arrived in the city where the castle is. They go to the sewer breeze so Billy and Cutwater can’t find them but they did find them so they go deeper into the sewer breeze. Then as the two boys are going out, Billy and Cutwater are trapped by the mice. So the two boys go back to the castle and Jemmy gets a reward for taking care of prince Brat.
Education not only transforms lower social class people to become superior, capable, and worthy, but also it helps them survive in an unexpected difficult situation. Poor people might not look rich outside of their appearance, but with knowledge and skills they could be rich inside and win the respect of others. Prince Brat never really makes an effort to learn, but the whipping boy Jemmy learns all lessons that are intended for the prince. During the kidnapping, Jemmy is able to write the note to the king but Prince Brat cannot. The kidnappers even believe Jemmy is the prince and Prince Brat is the whipping boy. The identification exchange between the Prince Brat and the whipping boy Jemmy confirms the importance of education and education makes a person become powerful, even change his appearance. If Jemmy does not take the lessons, they would not be able to escape from the kidnappers. With education, people will know what to do when facing problems and save themselves and others, and win the trust and respect from others.
People from different social classes could develop good friendships, especially when they are working on solving the same problem. True friendship is not decided by their wealth or social status; instead, true friendship is established through a person’s feelings and actions. Prince Brat and Jemmy are not friends. Jemmy takes the beating for Prince Brat as a job. They begin to become friends when Prince Brat gets whipped and realizes how terrible he made Jemmy get whipped. When Prince Brat goes into the dark sewer, Jemmy waits for him. Prince Brat protects Jemmy when the king wants to punish Jemmy. At the beginning, Prince Brat and the whipping boy are different in many ways because they are from different social classes. For the prince, Jemmy is just a servant, not his friend. At the end, Jemmy shows he is friends with Prince Brat by protecting him rather than abandoning him during escape, and Prince Brat does the same to Jemmy. This shows that friendship could still take place even if there are differences in social backgrounds or wealth. Friendship can develop between people who did not get along and friendship grows when people are trying to understand each other.
People in the higher level who have more power need to wisely use their powers and be nice to others who obey them. People with great power could change things for better or even save the life of others. Prince Brat is a prince with great power. Prince Brat often misbehaves on purpose in order to see the whipping boy Jemmy get punished. When Prince Brat becomes friends with Jemmy, he uses his power to protect Jemmy from getting punished by the king. Prince Brat was born as a future king and he cannot be punished because it is against the law to whip a prince. The whipping boy Jemmy has to take all the beating for Prince Brat. Even worse, Prince Brat would do something terrible just to make Jemmy get whipped. It is so wrong and unfair to make a person take all the blame and punishment for another’s mistake. Prince Brat could use his power in a good way, like protecting people who work for him. People with great power should respect power and use it wisely; otherwise, great power would bring negative consequences.
“The Whipping Boy” is an easy-to-read story with many pictures talking about the interaction between Prince Brat and the whipping boy Jemmy and how they become friends through the kidnapping. Although Prince Brat is a future king with great power, he should use the power wisely rather than abuse the power. Anyone could become friends no matter what their social classes are and their friendship will get stronger when they understand each other more and more. Having education not only helps people solve problems but also enriches a person’s mind to become superior, capable, and worthy. I would recommend this book to kids who don’t like to learn, hoping they would realize the importance of education and begin to engage more in class to learn well.
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