Hey my wormlets! Welcome back to another blog post (oh, and if you're new here, we're glad to have you, too)!
Recently, I finished reading a book (fiction) called Me and Miranda Mullaly (author is Jake Gerhardt). Don't worry--I'll tell you all about my over-all reaction, thoughts, reviews, etc. in an upcoming post (Tomorrow?) but that is not what today's post is about. Today's post is a "character delve" on the character Duke Samagura. This will explain his character (there are spoilers...sorry. I recomend you read the book before you read this but, hey, whatever floats your boat) really go deep into his life, what I think his future would look like, etc. So let's get to the post! CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: Duke Samagura is an eighth grader at Penn Valley Middle School in Penn Valley, Ohio. He often gets deep in thought, pondering everything from how he wants his future to play out, to how to get his revenge on class-clown Sam Dolan, to how to win over the girl of his dreams--eighth grade, bright-smiling, sweet singing, intelligent, beautiful, Miranda Mullaly. Duke always gets the lead in the school musicals, loves to read the New Yorker without being interrupted, and qoutes everything from Winston Churchill to Julias Ceaser on an hourly basis. His life is not perfect though. His anger issues are real. After an incident at school, Duke's parents made him go to a therapist for a while where he discovered Knuckles and Moose (the imaginary giants who work for him and "pummel" all of the people who aggrivate him so that he himself does not have to). Also, his parents (whom he just calls by first name), Neal and Cassandra, are mainly too consumed in each other and their work as socioligists (which has them writing books about teenage mothers, etc.) to spend much time on Duke. And also, Duke isn't the only one sweet on Miranda Mullaly. No! In fact, he is one of at least three other boys who have their hearts set on her. MY THOUGHTS ON DUKE: Whether or not Jake Gerhardt meant him to come off to the reader this way, to me, Duke seems very stuck up and full of himself. He doesn't usually have a doubt that he will end up "happily ever after" with Miranda Mullaly nor a doubt that he will get the lead yet again in the musical "Pajama Game". Notably, he is smart, but he definetlly knows it. He never really felt relatable to me, unlike Sam or Chollie (more on them in a soon-to-come post). Duke loves to plot revenge, too, and so we don't think of him as kind. But we also know that Duke has some, let's just say, issues (both with anger and with not really having anybody to be around what with Neal and Cassandra being ultra consumed by other things) so it does occur to me that he may just be having a challenging life at home so that's why he never hesitates to seek out revenge. WILL HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SHARON WORK OUT? I'll say that I guessed who Sam and Chollie would end up with, but Duke came as a surprise. I do think that Sharon has the potential to be a good match for Duke (sorry Ralph Waldo), what with her love for musical theater! The thing is, I don't know much about her so I can't tell whether, in the long run, this relationship will be a "big one" or not. It is more than possible that Duke would do something that Sharon will get all upset about (we see quickly in the book that she does get upset over small things) and she will "dump" him. But first of all, let me just clarify that we don't even know whether Sharon and Duke even started (or will start) dating. Seems to me that it's a little late for that (what with Duke graduating on to highschool and Sharon being a year behind him and still at Penn Valley Middle School.) Also, dating Sharon would mean that he would probably have to have a lot of interaction and time with the whole Dolan family--Sam included--and could he really handle that? THIS CONCULDES... Thank you for reading this post! This post featured the ramblings, thoughts, etc. I had about Duke--including his personality, relationship, and more! If you have anything else you want to say about Duke, please do so by clicking on the "comments" button on your screen and leaving me a comment. Also, please check back for a new geeky post (tomorrow or wednesday)! -Phoebe Snell (Senior Worm, Book Addict, and Book Geek)
2 Comments
Rose E.
7/29/2017 08:18:49 am
Hey, I finally read "Me and Miranda Mullaly" so I could read this post and I really enjoyed the book (and post!) so thanks for the book recommendation. I will say I guessed pretty early on who Chollie and Sam would end up with and I was glad about that. Duke as character did seem pretty un-relatable so I'm glad that it wasn't just me;). He had some good qualities e.g. his love for literature and passion for theater, but the way he acted most of the time was not appropriate e.g. Opening Night with Sam, shoveling Miranda's sidewalk, and the way he was over confident about everything.
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Phoebe
7/30/2017 10:13:52 am
Thanks for your comment and I'm glad you liked the book! Yeah I had no idea that Duke would end up with Sharon Dolan which I think the surprise was a good thing considering that Collie and Sam were such easy guesses. I agree with you on everything you're saying about Duke's personality and qualities.
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