Institute History
Description
THE MUDGE BOY is the story of Duncan, a fifteen-year-old farm boy coming to terms with the recent death of his mother and his own sexual awakening.
Duncan looks to fill the void left by his mother's passing. His grief takes the shape of both odd and humorous behaviors. Edgar, Duncan's sixty year old, distant father, doesn't understand his son's strangeness. He wants to change this boy, to turn him into a man. Duncan is alone — his only friend a pet chicken.
Estranged from his father, Duncan longs to make a connection with someone — anyone. Hopelessly naive, he rides around on his bicycle with his chicken, unwittingly making himself a target of ridicule. Chicken Boy. He looks for friendship from the "townie" boys. They mock and harass him. Perry, an older boy, befriends him.
Perry initiates Duncan into the group. Duncan has new friends and new hope. He is part of something. His relationship with Perry gradually becomes secretive and dangerous as Perry reveals a hidden side of himself. Duncan's world takes a destructive turn as he discovers the price of friendship. In one fateful moment, he makes a heartwrenching sacrifice, surrendering the last vestiges of his childhood and taking the first step towards becoming the man his father wants him to be.
THE MUDGE BOY is a dark, yet often funny, portrait of adolescence. Universal in its specifics, it explores the humor and pain of growing up different in rural America.