Characters & Plot
David Arnold starts off Mosquitoland with Mim’s dad and stepmom in the principal's office of her new school. Mim gets called down to the office and overhears part of their conversation. She then decides to walk home, pack a bag, steal a coffee can of money from her stepmom and walk to the bus station (pg 8). After she buys her ticket and is waiting for the Greyhound bus, we meet another (important) character that comes into play, Poncho Man. He gets the name from Mim after he kinda creeps her out and happened to be wearing a poncho (pg 10). Once she boards the bus and takes a seat, an old lady sits with her and we are introduced to Arlene (pg 14). She is a cute old lady who is quite the conversationalist that has a small wooden box with her that she plans to take to her gay nephew, Ahab, in Kentucky (pg 45-47). Arlene plays an important role and ultimately leads to some major plot points, even though she doesn’t stay in the story physically for long. We also get a glimpse at another main character on the bus, at first he’s a flat character and is referred to as 17C (pg 102), his seat number, but when he is formally introduced later on he becomes more of a round character (pg 181). Not too long after the bus crashes (pg 59), Mim leaves the Greyhound bus group and starts walking. While she was walking she meets Walt (pg 119), he invites her to his “New Chicago” which is really just a tent in the woods. By the next few chapters after we meet Walt, 17C is formally introduced when they try to buy a truck (pg 181). Throughout the rest of the book some pretty snazzy things happen, and eventually Mim gets to her mother (pg 325).
Important Themes & Symbols