Virgil Character Analysis

One of the novel’s narrators, Virgil is a rising sixth grader and an immigrant from Haiti. Though he looks forward to spending his summer vacation sleeping in, Virgil’s father has other ideas—on the first day of summer vacation, he drags Virgil out of bed early to cultivate a plot in the garden. But Virgil is extremely embarrassed when he discovers that the garden is part of his dad’s latest get-rich-quick schemes and requires that they cultivate six plots instead of one. He’s mortified when a former teacher, Miss Fleck, calls Virgil’s father out on selfishly taking so many plots. However, this experience helps Virgil humanize his dad. He’s never seen an adult lie to get ahead before, and though at first he’s embarrassed and angry, he soon comes to feel bad for his dad. On the whole, Virgil doesn’t enjoy his experiences in the garden. He participates because his father makes him and because his dad promised to buy him an 18-speed bike with the lettuce proceeds. Instead, though, Virgil is tasked with the difficult work of watering the lettuce and trying to keep it pest-free, all while coming to the conclusion that he and his dad don’t know enough about gardening to grow a successful, profitable crop.