78 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenHarris and Me: A Summer Remembered
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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Home, Family, and Acceptance
The concept of home is foreign to the protagonist of Harris and Me when he first arrives on the Larson’s farm. Never having experienced a loving and supportive family, he is met with more than culture shock when he spends his summer on the farm. Through working, playing, eating, and living together, he establishes his place as part of the Larson family by the novel’s conclusion.
In the early stages of the summer, the protagonist feels out of place, confused, and awestruck by his new surroundings and the people he is living with. He cannot believe it when Harris wakes him up before dawn on the first day, completely dark, pitch black in the room” (12), and drags him out to play. Even though he is unsure of himself, he follows along. By mid-way through the summer, the protagonist is fully integrated into the routine of the farm and his time with Harris and the family. He contributes equally to the workload, eagerly awakes to play, and builds bonds with animals on the farm like Buzzer the lynx and Bill the horse.
Despite his increasing familiarity with farm life and the Larsons, the protagonist does not feel truly at home until he witnesses Louie’s miniature creations have grown to include himself as part of the family. Louie does not speak throughout the novel but speaks instead through this moment. It is ironically through the character that communicates least that the protagonist learns that he is home. The protagonist understands he is home because he is accepted and loved, exactly as he is and unconditionally. He has never belonged anywhere before, but he does now. None of the misdeeds he and Harris committed that summer affected the Larsons’s love for him; if anything, they made it stronger.
Many moments in the novel foreshadow that the protagonist will find a home with the Larsons. The protagonist notes that the Larsons love Louie, despite his bedraggled appearance and his habit of eating most of the breakfast; rather than confronting his habits, Harris and the others adjust their own behaviors to accommodate him, arriving early at the breakfast table and grabbing what they can. Similarly, the Larsons love their cat, Buzzer, and their rooster, Ernie, even though both are violent and unaffectionate. This grace toward all people and things extends immediately to the protagonist, as the family fusses over him after he’s injured by a cow on his second night at the farm, Clair calling him a “poor dear.”
The protagonist journeys from the bustle of the city to the isolation of the country. It is there, ironically, that he is finally able to let go of the inner isolation he has felt all his life. The Larson family are warm and welcoming from the moment he arrives and express their grief when he leaves. Clair remarks that it is “nice… [he’s] going home at last” (90) but she feels differently. Harris reminds the protagonist of this, telling him he “don’t got to stay gone” (90). The protagonist is no longer a guest on the Larson farm; he is home. Harris makes this clear when he writes to the protagonist in the epilogue, saying “I hope you can come home soon” (92).
The Importance of Friendship
Most of the events that take place in the novel Harris and Me center around the misadventures of the protagonist and his cousin, Harris. From the moment the protagonist arrives on the farm, Harris is by his side. Within days, the protagonist swears loyalty to Harris in his mind, knowing that he is invested in this friendship now. Through each failure and success, the boys learn about themselves, the principles of life, and the significance of friendship.
Harris is the only boy on the Larson farm and spent the first nine years of his life with no other boys to play with. The protagonist spent his 11 years being shifted from house to house, never making roots or developing relationships. The two boys need each other, and their bond develops quickly. Since farm life sees the boys spending each day and night together, they soon learn each other’s quirks, secrets, and plans.
Multiple conflict that occurs between the boys, such as when Harris is injured by the bull and tries to manipulate the protagonist into letting him take more time off. The protagonist says, “If you don’t help tomorrow, I’m going to kill you” (72) in a fit of exhaustion and impatience. Harris reluctantly submits, and the boys fall asleep. Harris also ruins the protagonist’s chances with the girl he likes, Elaine, suggesting that Harris only wants the protagonist’s attention for himself and likely doesn’t see the value of romantic interests, being only 9. Rather than holding a grudge, the protagonist gets his revenge on Harris (via the electric fence), and all is well between them, despite some good-natured bickering. These incidents reveal that the protagonist was initially not comfortable holding this authority over Harris, but after spending months with him, the protagonist is beginning to assert himself more and sees himself and Harris as equals.
The friendship between Harris and the protagonist acts as the main vessel through which the protagonist learns about farm life, the animals, the other family members, and himself. Their friendship serves many purposes beyond itself. Through Harris’s boldness and talent for scheming, the protagonist gains confidence in his own abilities. Harris remains a static character throughout the novel; he is instead the catalyst for change in the protagonist.
Friendship is an essential aspect of youth, and the people one makes friends with can shape their lives forever. The protagonist is unaware of what he is in for when he arrives on the Larson farm, but by the time he leaves, he has gained a new family and a friend for life. In the epilogue of the novel, Harris is already writing to the protagonist three weeks after his departure. He sends him the figure Louie made, to remind him of where his home, his family, and his friends are. The protagonist will never be alone again now that he has Harris.
Growing Up
The protagonist and his supporting character, Harris, are both young boys at the time of novel’s events. The novel takes place in the years following the second World War in the northern USA. There is a carefree atmosphere in the air, and the American people have returned to their homes and farms to pick up where they left off. The protagonist arrives on this Larson farm during this unique point in history and leaves the farm at the end of the summer a transformed and more mature version of himself, establishing a coming-of-age narrative that coincides with the protagonist finding acceptance and his proper place in the world.
When the protagonist meets the Larsons, he is admittedly shy: “I had a caution of meeting new people that often translated as flight” (6). He is afraid of his secrets being exposed, namely his pornographic pictures. Clair and Glennis quickly put him at ease with their warmth, and Harris immediately take shim under his wing. Until now, all the protagonist’s experiences have revolved around city life, and the farm is a massive shock to him. It quickly forces him out of his shell.
The protagonist spends the summer working hard labor, learning about the nature of animals, experimenting, and playing with Harris, and observing the men, Knute and Louie, in their element. His perception of himself, the meaning of fun, and the concept of belonging to a family shift dramatically from the beginning to the end of the summer. The protagonist even falls in love for the first time when he sees a “blue eyed girl” at the Lumberjack Lownje. By the time the novel concludes, the protagonist is assertive, confident, and home.
Through his friendship with Harris, the protagonist gains wisdom and knowledge. Each vignette encompasses a new lesson or experience which develops him as a person and leads him closer to himself and his new family. He learns about “the value and safety of teamwork” (31), physics, and blame and guilt. Harris unintentionally thrusts these lessons upon the protagonist through the experiences they share, which Harris initiates.
The protagonist’s evolution as a dynamic character has Harris to thank. Their bond, developing rapidly and allowing the boys to experience the summer on a very real, gritty, and joy-filled level, lets the protagonist flourish and grow into himself. The experiences with Harris on the farm will shape the person he becomes and the life he lives.
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