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Two Unlikely Friends in Beverly Cleary's Book The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Decent Essays

The bonds and relationships that develop between humans and animals are much like human to human. This relation is prevalent in the novel The Mouse and the Motorcycle. In the story, a relationship between Ralph, a mouse, and Keith, a boy, develops. The two entities strike an impressive friendship that resembles that of two human best friends that have known each other for years.
The book starts out when Keith and his family go on a vacation across the United States. Eventually the expedition led the family to California where Keith would meet a friend he would never forget. Ralph, being a mouse, was extremely hesitant to venture out into the inn room in which Keith was staying. Nevertheless, after Ralph noticed Keith’s impressive …show more content…

Beverly Cleary, in her novel The Mouse and the Motorcycle, explicates that two living creatures of completely different species can come to unite and form a phenomenal friendship.
In her story, Beverly Cleary shows that true friendship is not limited to members of the same species. She uses a boy, a mouse and a similar interest to show friendships can grow from the most unlikely sources. Just as in the real world, Cleary uses an intrigue to introduce two completely different worlds. Men and women, and animals, often tend to gravitate to things that are captivating to them. Past affiliations and even general curiosity are a few things Cleary used to help begin this friendship. Ralph living in the inn for years would have seen countless children playing with their toys, but it was not until Keith that he would venture out unto a thrilling undertaking that a friendship would develop. The two beings shared an interest, in this case Keith’s prized motorcycle, which led to them crossing paths and becoming best friends.
The relationship itself helps Cleary drive the point home. Why exactly is it mouse? Is it because a mouse is small enough to ride a motorcycle? Then why not a hamster? A squirrel? Cleary uses a mouse due to its “fiend nature”. Man has given mice a tarnished reputation. This then should make it tough for a friendship to develop between the two. Cleary demonstrates that friendships can develop from the weirdest of pairs. Not many would consider a mouse as a

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