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Chapter 4
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Tiger Rising, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Consequences
Emotion, Repression, and Healing
Friendship and Support
Good, Evil, and Balance
Religion, Beauty, and Wonder
Summary
Analysis
Rob enters Mr. Phelmer’s office and sits down. Mr. Phelmer insists he’s worried about Rob’s legs and asks to inspect the rash. After he’s looked, Mr. Phelmer says that parents are worried the rash is contagious. He confirms that Rob has been applying his medicine, and then he insists that the best thing to do is to have Rob stay home until his legs are better. Trying not to look thrilled, Rob says that would be okay. Mr. Phelmer writes Rob a note, which Rob puts in his pocket with the tiger drawing. After leaving the office, Rob grins—his legs will never improve, so Rob is “free.”
Where Mr. Phelmer, the highest authority at school, could step in and make Rob’s time at school more pleasant (as by cracking down on the bullying he suffers), instead, he caves to parent pressure and kicks Rob out. At this point in the novel, Rob’s rash is not just uncomfortably itchy, it’s also isolating. And yet, it also gives Rob exactly what he wants here: an escape from the abuse he suffers at school.
Active
Themes
