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Beatrice Leep/The Girl
One of the novel’s antagonists, Dana is an older bully at Trace Middle School who rides the bus with Roy. He’s huge, strong, and smokes cigarettes, though he’s not very smart. And because he’s terrified all the students at Trace Middle with his violent and incessant bullying, nobody is brave enough to report him—so therefore, as far as the administration is concerned, Dana isn’t actually a bully. Dana targets Roy specifically, though this never ends well for Dana: Roy is small and spry enough to dodge many of Dana’s hits, and Roy even ends up breaking Dana’s nose on accident. Ultimately, Dana gets his comeuppance when Roy tricks him into trying to break into the construction trailer at the Mother Paula’s construction site. Dana is arrested for vandalizing the site, and because he has a previous criminal record, he’s incarcerated at the local juvenile detention center.
Dana Matherson Quotes in Hoot
The Hoot quotes below are all either spoken by Dana Matherson or refer to Dana Matherson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
Roy gasped.
“Whassamatter, cowgirl? Had enough?”
This was Dana, hissing in Roy’s right ear. Being the new kid on the bus, Roy didn’t expect any help from the others. The “cowgirl” remark was so lame, it wasn’t worth getting mad about. Dana was a well-known idiot, on top of which he outweighed Roy by at least fifty pounds. Fighting back would have been a complete waste of energy.
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Chapter 2 Quotes
“Matherson is the menace! He hassles all the smaller kids on the bus.”
“Nobody else has complained.”
“Because they’re scared of him,” Roy said. Which was also why none of the other kids had backed up his story. Nobody wanted to nark on Dana and have to face him the next day on the bus.
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Chapter 15 Quotes
In addition to a fear of getting caught, Roy had serious qualms about trying anything illegal—and there was no dodging the fact that vandalism was a crime, however noble the cause.
Yet he couldn’t stop thinking ahead to the day when the owl dens would be destroyed by bulldozers. He could picture the mother owls and father owls, helplessly flying in circles while their babies were being smothered under tons of dirt.
It made Roy sad and angry. So what if Mother Paula’s had all the proper permits? Just because something was legal didn’t automatically make it right.
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Chapter 16 Quotes
He wasn’t in the mood to turn somersaults, though he couldn’t deny experiencing a sense of liberation. He was tired of being Dana Matherson’s punching bag.
And while he felt guilty about making up the bogus cigarette story, Roy also couldn’t help but think that putting Dana behind bars was a public service. He was a nasty kid. Maybe a hitch at juvenile hall would straighten him out.
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The driver’s seat was gone!
Dropping the rock that he’d been carrying for protection, Curly dashed to the next machine in line, a backhoe. Its seat had disappeared, too.
In a snit, Curly stomped toward the third and last piece of equipment, a grader. Again, no driver’s seat.
Curly spat out a cuss word. Without seats, the earthmoving machines were basically useless. The operators had to sit down in order to work the foot pedals and steer at the same time.
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Chapter 17 Quotes
“We need a warm body, and the only one we’ve got is sitting in juvenile detention. So officially he’s our perpetrator, understand?”
Officer Delinko and his sergeant agreed in unison.
“I’m going out on a limb here, so you know what that means,” the captain said. “If another crime happens on that property, I’ll look like a complete bozo. And if I end up looking like a bozo, certain people around here are going to spend the rest of their careers cleaning dimes out of parking meters. Am I making myself clear?”
Again Officer Delinko and his sergeant said yes.
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Get the entire Hoot LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Dana Matherson Character Timeline in Hoot
The timeline below shows where the character Dana Matherson appears in Hoot. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...bus. But on this Monday, he notices the strange running boy along the sidewalk because Dana Matherson, an older bully, sneaks up behind Roy and squeezes his head, forcing his gaze...
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Chapter 2
...running. Just as the bus stops and Roy gets up to chase after the boy, Dana grips Roy around the neck and squeezes. Annoyed, Roy punches behind him, Dana cries out,...
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It’s Roy’s own fault that Dana calls him “cowgirl.” Though Roy was born in Detroit, Michigan, he lived in Montana before...
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Miss Hennepin isn’t convinced that Dana is a bully, since no other kids have complained. Roy argues that this is because...
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...Just as he stands up, a strong hand lands on his shoulder. But it’s not Dana; it’s the blond girl from the bus. She tells Roy he could’ve hurt her this...
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Chapter 3
...Roy gets home from school, he has to tell his parents about the incident with Dana. Mr. Eberhardt tells Roy it’s never okay to fight, but Roy maintains he only punched...
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As Roy sits in his bedroom thinking about his apology letter to Dana, he studies his poster of a bull rider on a bull and another warning Yellowstone...
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Chapter 4
...after the golf ball incident. Medically, Roy is fine, but he’s anxious—what will happen when Dana seeks revenge? Fortunately, on Monday, Dana isn’t at school. Garrett says Dana is out sick...
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Roy knows he has to do something. He can’t spend the year hiding from Dana and Beatrice. So, at lunch, he sits down next to Beatrice and her soccer friends....
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...asks Mrs. Eberhardt to stop at the address—she assumes it’s a school friend’s. Really, it’s Dana Matherson’s house. Mrs. Matherson answers the door and calls for Dana, who appears wearing pajamas...
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Chapter 5
...later, he hears Mrs. Eberhardt telling Mr. Eberhardt that the school doesn’t want to discipline Dana because they’re afraid Dana’s parents will sue. Roy sneaks his bike out of the garage...
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Chapter 6
...go to school rather than arrest them. Mrs. Eberhardt frets that Roy’s apology letter to Dana was too forceful and now he wants to drop out. Fearing that Mr. Eberhardt would...
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Fortunately, Dana is out of school again. Garrett suggests Roy run away and then shares that other...
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Chapter 8
...to get back to her morning yoga classes. But he knows he’ll have to face Dana sometime—tomorrow might as well be the day.
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...out, too. Roy boards the bus and kids immediately move away from him. As expected, Dana appears behind Roy. There’s a new injury on Dana’s lip; maybe Mrs. Matherson hit him....
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Roy is done playing, and he’s had lots of experience with bullies like Dana. He slaps Dana’s hand away and calmly tells Dana to hit him. Once Dana does,...
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Chapter 9
...day, Garrett drags Roy into a bathroom and says that Roy should go home sick. Dana will be waiting after seventh period and plans to beat Roy up before Roy gets...
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...He lets the other students leave and then peeks into the hall: no sign of Dana. The teacher, Mr. Ryan, appears behind Roy and they walk together to the staff lounge....
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Dana has pulled Roy into the pitch-black janitor’s closet. Roy evades Dana’s sweaty grip and hides...
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Chapter 10
Beatrice saved Roy from Dana—she stripped Dana to his underwear and tied him to the flagpole. She then stole a...
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Chapter 14
...breakfast. Garrett invites Roy to skate at the outlet mall and asks him questions about Dana getting tied to the flagpole, but Roy can’t answer in front of his parents. A...
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Roy rides to Dana’s house and “another shaky example of motherhood” next. But Mr. Matherson, not Mrs. Matherson, opens...
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Chapter 15
...gets up and tells Mrs. Eberhardt he’s going for another bike ride. He rides to Dana’s house and slips into the backyard. When he finds Dana’s window, Roy gets Dana’s attention,...
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Dana appears moments later, and Roy begins to jog away. He wants Dana to chase him,...
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...cursing outside. Steeling himself, Curly busts out the door and pins a big, lumpy kid (Dana) to the ground. The kid, who has rattraps attached to each sneaker toe, introduces himself...
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...duty—and save his reputation at work. But near the site, Delinko sees a hulking teenager (Dana) moving oddly down the road due to rattraps attached to his toes.
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Delinko turns on his lights, gets out, and asks the boy (Dana) if they can talk. The boy refuses and says he wants a lawyer, but he’s...
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Chapter 16
...Mr. Eberhardt shares that Officer Delinko left a voicemail while they were gone: they arrested Dana at the construction site, and Dana said he was Roy. Roy admits that Garrett already...
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Chapter 17
...already gone when Roy wakes up. During breakfast, Mr. Eberhardt reads the newspaper article about Dana’s arrest; Mrs. Eberhardt is incensed that Dana’s name isn’t given, since he’s under 18. Kids...
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...Delinko and the sergeant enter the captain’s office. The captain praises Delinko and asks what Dana has said, but Dana hasn’t said much. During the interrogation, Dana was stubborn and confusing,...
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...can resume field work, and the sergeant wrote a letter praising Delinko’s work in catching Dana. And because Delinko has experience with the case, he’ll be working 12-hour night shifts to...
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...at a souvenir shop and then pulls in at the Juvenile Detention Center to see Dana. Hopefully Dana will admit to at least one of the crimes. Dana accepts a stick...
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Chapter 19
Before Officer Delinko can share what actually happened when he caught Dana, Kimberly Lou Dixon hurtles out of the bathroom, shouting about all the roaches. Curly says...
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Epilogue
...Fingers lasted 17 hours in juvenile detention before he broke out with none other than Dana Matherson’s help. Roy knows that Mullet Fingers only invited Dana to join him in their...
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...Delinko and Curly to watch for owls. Delinko has recently been recognized for helping recapture Dana, while Curly has been driving his wife and mother-in-law around. The bird watchers stand in...
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