52 pages • 1 hour read
Stuart GibbsBelly Up
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Emeralds
The emeralds symbolize greed. The precious stones are closely linked with avarice and duplicity. Martin del Gato smuggles the emeralds into the country so he can make his fortune before McCracken discovers the mess he’s made of FunJungle’s finances and fires him. To sneak the stones across the border, Martin’s plan relies on wanton animal abuse:
Whenever he needed a new shipment of emeralds, he’d send a request for a big animal, like an anaconda or a jaguar. They’d go out and catch one in the wild—which is totally illegal—then do a little surgery, sewing a pouch of jewels inside the animal (261).
At least eight animals perish because of this unethical treatment. The emerald smuggling scheme demonstrates that Martin prioritizes his love of money over animals’ well-being and his employer’s trust.
Later, the infectious greed spreads to Buck Grassley. When he learns of Martin’s scheme, he blackmails the director of operations to give him a cut. When Henry eats “over two pounds of emeralds in a plastic bag” (280), Buck murders the hippo rather than wait for him to pass the precious stones. As head of security, Buck is responsible for the safety of all of FunJungle’s human and animal residents, but his greed matters more to him than fulfilling his duty. The emeralds give a concrete form to the avarice that motivates two of the novel’s antagonists to sacrifice animals’ lives for their own gain.
Merchandise
FunJungle merchandise serves as a motif for the theme of The Purposes of Environmental Ethics Versus Greed. The zoo’s leadership, particularly McCracken and Martin, are more interested in profits than animals. Major decisions, such as the selection of the park’s mascot, are based upon sales rather than biology. For example, hippos are notoriously cantankerous, but a hippo is selected as FunJungle’s mascot because “Henry Hippo merchandise began outselling that of all the other characters by a huge margin” (26). In a sense, there are two Henry Hippos: the character audiences have consumed in the form of cartoons and merchandise and the actual animal that is murdered two weeks after FunJungle opens. To the park’s leadership, the loss is significant because of its economic impact on the park, not because of the animal’s death itself.
The motif appears in McCracken’s lament in Chapter 13: “Do you have any idea how much damage they’ve done by killing Henry right after the park’s grand opening? Millions of dollars. Maybe more [...] I’ve got warehouses full of Henry merchandise I can’t sell now” (195). This excerpt develops the theme of environmental ethics versus greed by giving a clear picture of the profit-driven motives of FunJungle’s owner.
The motif of merchandise plays directly into Henry’s death because he is killed with toys sold at FunJungle. Of the park’s many souvenir shops, the Emporium is the largest and most overt:
Its purpose was obvious: To grab the attention of everyone entering or exiting the park and make them spend money. Half the store was FunJungle merchandise, aisle after aisle of virtually anything a logo could be slapped on: clothing, posters, toys, glassware, bumper stickers, children’s books, postcards, beach towels, ashtrays, and cheap souvenirs that my dad always referred to as ‘future landfill’ (101).
The Emporium is where Buck Grassley purchases the jacks he sharpens and feeds to the hippo. Commodification and profit-hunting shape Henry’s life and death as FunJungle’s mascot. The motif of merchandise advances the theme of environmental ethics versus greed, illustrates how FunJungle’s leadership treats the zoo like a corporation, and helps explain the importance of the mystery’s murder victim.
The Key Code
The secret key code Summer uses to navigate FunJungle represents privilege. She has the code because of the wealth and status of her father, who is the zoo’s owner and a billionaire. The code’s function is to grant access, which enhances its efficacy as a symbol of privilege:
Summer revealed there was a secret code: One that never changed—and that opened every door. Her father’s personal code. J.J. McCracken wanted to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without having to learn a new code every time (90).
Teddy is highly resourceful and knowledgeable, but he requires an ally with privilege to see justice done. Even his impressive knowledge of FunJungle and his knack for stealth can’t compete with a code that grants access to every part of the park. The key code plays an essential role in the children’s investigation because Summer uses it to enter Henry’s enclosure and find the murder weapon. Through the symbolism of the secret key code, Gibbs offers commentary on privilege and who has access to these benefits. Summer’s ability to easily pass through enclosures of animals seized from Asia and Africa also highlights her white privilege, with implications of colonialism being incorporated.
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