Boot Camp (book)

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Morton Rhue is reading from Boot Camp at Langenau High School

Boot Camp (Original title: Boot Camp ) is the title of a book for young people by the American author Morton Rhue . The German-language transmission by Werner Schmitz was first published in 2006 by Ravensburger Buchverlag .

action

Sixteen year old Connor is kidnapped at night. The kidnappers were hired by his parents to take him to a "re-education camp". His parents pay $ 4,000 a month to have him re-educated there because they are not happy with his behavior. The gifted Connor often skips school because the lessons are too demanding for him. Although he still completes every exam with excellent grades, his parents are dissatisfied, especially with the relationship between Connor and his teacher Sabrina.

Connor has to start at "Level 1" in the boot camp called Lake Harmony. At this level one is often drilled for days, whereby one has to serve the food daily to inmates of a higher level. If an inmate wants to reach a higher level, he must first recognize that he was previously naughty. After a while, Connor befriends Sarah and Pauly, who were housed in Lake Harmony a while ago, but are still on level 1.

Pauly wants to break out and persuades the two of them to go with him. They plan to turn off the electricity and flee while panic erupts. They manage to escape and they want to flee to Canada . When they reach the border between the US and Canada, Connor explores how to cross the river. In doing so, he realizes that the kidnappers are on their heels. There is a chase between Connor and Rebecca. Connor manages to escape through the gap in a fence. From there he returns to Sarah and Pauly in a roundabout way and discovers a boat rental. You are planning to steal a boat. When they arrive at the boat rental, however, they are discovered by Rebecca and Harry, and another chase ensues. By chance they come across another boat rental company where they take possession of a boat. Before they leave, they come up with the idea of ​​damaging all the other boats in order to prevent the pursuers from following them across the river. The three cross the river, but are pursued by the kidnappers anyway. Connor drops Pauly and Sarah on the Canadian river bank and saves Harry and Rebecca, whose boat goes down in the middle of the river. Connor is then arrested by the Coast Guard who has been chasing him and taken back to Lake Harmony, where he is mistreated and humiliated.

But Rebecca, one of the two kidnappers, tells his parents what happened to him in Lake Harmony and that Connor saved Rebecca and Harry from the water and therefore did not deserve boot camp. They want to free Connor from Lake Harmony immediately, but it is too late. Connor has been effectively brainwashed and now thinks like everyone else that he deserves everything that has been done to him. He tells his parents that he has been beaten, but also that he deserves it.

Rules in the boot camp

Basics

The most important rule in boot camp is the “don't talk” rule. Inmates in the camp only have the right to speak if they are level 2 or higher. This mainly applies to questions that the overseers ask. When giving an answer, address the supervisor as “Sir” or “Madam”. Connor is also aware of this rule when he speaks to his father and mother. Another rule that prevails in Lake Harmony is the “don't touch” rule. This is only discussed at the end when Connor's parents wanted to pick him up. These and other rules are summarized in a document called "the Bible," which all inmates must memorize upon arrival. The chapter names are always a new rule.

Dress code

The inmates wear flip-flops at the beginning to make escape more difficult. The hair can only grow longer from a higher level. The dress code can be strictly enforced, as inmates are thoroughly examined for drugs and weapons upon arrival by undressing to the last detail and then having to change their clothes.

people

Connor Durrell

Connor is a gifted sixteen year old boy from a wealthy family. He is 1.93 m tall, weighs 103 kg, is broad-shouldered, strong and muscular. His mother has her own company for crisis management , his father is employed as a lawyer in a company. His mother is the head of the family. She likes to gossip about other people, but doesn't like it when other people gossip about her. Because his parents disagree with the relationship between him and his teacher Sabrina, who is ten years older than him, and the truancy caused by insufficient demand, they have Sabrina legally suspended from teaching and send Connor to the “Lake Harmony” re-education camp. There he is tortured and tortured.

Pauly

Pauly is a petite, fifteen year old boy with blond hair. He is called Pauly. He's been in boot camp for a long time because his father wants a stronger and bolder boy. He is constantly beaten by the guards. However, this brutal reversal process does not help him: He has been there for nine months and is still on "Level 1". Pauly is smart and prudent. He tries to convince Sarah and Connor to flee and takes a big risk for it. After her successful escape, Pauly is taken to a hospital in Canada. His parents are very worried about him and bring him back home.

Sarah Shafer

Sarah is a 17-year-old girl who has been in the re-education camp for more than two years because she does not represent her father's religious beliefs. (Her father is a high priest of the Mormons.) She hardly eats, loses weight and injures herself. She dares to flee to Canada with Connor and Pauly. The three make slow progress, however, as Sarah injures her foot and Pauly catches a bad cold. Sarah befriends Connor. When they later have to part, she is very sad. What happened to her after fleeing to Canada is not mentioned in the book.

Joe

Joe is one of the staff at Lake Harmony. As the "father" of the "family" Connors, he often verbally kills them. In many places in the book it is indirectly indicated that Joe only practices this job to satisfy his sadistic needs. But he is not allowed to actively injure the inmates himself; he has helpers for that.

Mr. Z.

Mr. Z. is the director of the boot camp. He often has conversations with Connor about the principle of a boot camp in general and about Connor's case itself. He's a stocky man with pale gray eyes, cropped gray hair and a crooked nose. He has broad, muscular arms and his hands are coarse and scarred. The fingers are short and thick. He doesn't appear that often in the book, mostly just in the office.

Mr. Sparks

Mr. Sparks, the physical education teacher at the boot camp, tries to save the youngsters from exaggeratedly harsh punishments as often as possible, has a lot of compassion for Connor in particular and is actually against the methods used in the education camp. He only does this job because he has to take care of himself, his child, his sick mother and his wife and there are no other vacancies in the area.

Harry

Harry is one of the two kidnappers of Connor, but describes himself as a "transporter". He always wears a cowboy hat and speaks with a western accent. He is always very suspicious of the young people to be kidnapped, which suggests bad experiences in the past.

Rebecca

Rebecca is the second “carrier”. She herself was in a boot camp in her youth. Your behavior is therefore shaped by the basic principles of the boot camp. However, when she has to bring Connor back to the camp after his escape, she lets herself be converted and seeks Connor's parents to tell them about the abuse of the youth.

Adam

Adam is a fellow inmate in the boot camp. His behavior is marked by violence. He is also called the "thug" because he brutally executes all orders from the guards. He twists the arm of the inmates who come to the isolation ward, spat on them and slaps them on the face because the staff at Lake Harmony are not allowed to do this. He uses a blue toothbrush as a weapon in battle. His " Gestapo " Robert and David help him. However, if he alone z. B. is attacked by Connor Durrell, he shows his true colors, that of a fearful coward. He gets bonus points for completing Joe's orders (beating Pauly).

Reviews

  • Morton Rhue is a master at combining thought experiments with real scenarios. The line between reality and fiction is blurring. [...] With his clear, straightforward language he drives the story forward.
  • Rhue takes the partisanship so far that he misses any opportunity to differentiate himself and takes on an uncomfortably authoritarian tone. Parents, supervisors and other young people remain soulless figures without contours.
  • What is annoying about the disaster literature by Morton Rhue or Todd Strasser - he also publishes under his birth name - is their platitude. These books seem like exercises made from newspaper articles, they make no linguistic or intellectual demands. They are very popular as school literature for social studies lessons. The topics attract young people because they satisfy voyeuristic sadism without raising moral doubts (the victim is only a prevented lover, not a real criminal like the others in the camps). Rhue wants to show the good, weak, morally unequivocal America and provides the beatings as entertainment. (Review of the audio book version; Süddeutsche Zeitung )

Awards

  • Prize of the Leipzig Youth Jury (2006)

expenditure

Secondary literature for school

  • Ina Berger: Morton Rhue, Boot Camp. Topic: re-education camps for young people, interests of the individual vs. Interests of society, individuality versus adaptation, family, methods of upbringing, human rights, violence: Methodology: speaking and writing occasions, suggestions for discussion, action and production-oriented tasks: from 8.-10. Class . 1st edition. Ravensburger Buchverlag, Ravensburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-473-98060-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review of the Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 18, 2006
  2. ↑ Thomas Binotto: Two young adult novels about American educational institutions: In small steps into life. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . April 5, 2006, accessed May 9, 2019 .