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The rash on Rob’s legs symbolizes his grief and unwillingness to confront his difficult emotions. He reveals that he’s had the rash for six months—since his mother died of cancer. According to Willie May, the rash developed because Rob is keeping his grief down in his legs rather than letting his grief “rise up” to his heart so he can process his mother’s death. Rob’s rash hasn’t gone away by the end of the novel, even as he’s begun to confront his emotions and move forward from his grief. With this, the novel highlights that grief is a process—it will take Rob time to truly feel better after his mother’s death.
The novel also uses Rob’s rash to highlight how grief, though a difficult experience, can bring people together. Rob notes multiple times throughout the novel how gentle his father is as his father applies medicine to Rob’s itchy legs. Though the two aren’t willing or able to actually discuss Rob’s mother, their ability to connect by treating Rob’s rash foreshadows their eventual choice to speak about Rob’s mother, which they ultimately acknowledge will help them heal. And Sistine humorously takes such an interest in Rob in part because, according to their school principal, the rash might be contagious—and so Sistine, reasoning that she’ll be excused from school like Rob if she catches it, dramatically touches Rob’s rashy legs and prays to catch it. And so, even as The Tiger Rising explores a painful experience like grief through Rob’s rash, it continues to make the case that nothing is purely good or bad. Even as the rash symbolizes Rob’s grief, it also holds the capacity to bring him closer to his family and his friends.
Rob’s Rash Quotes in The Tiger Rising
The The Tiger Rising quotes below all refer to the symbol of Rob’s Rash. 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 7 Quotes
“Please let me catch it,” she whispered.
“You won’t,” said Rob, surprised at her hand, how small it was and how warm. It made him think, for a minute, of his mother’s hand, tiny and soft. He stopped that thought. “It ain’t contagious,” he told her.
“Please let me catch it,” Sistine whispered again, ignoring him, keeping her hand on his leg. “Please let me catch it so I won’t have to go to school.”
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Chapter 10 Quotes
“I can tell you how to cure that,” said Willie May, pointing with her cigarette at his legs. “I can tell you right now. Don’t need to go to no doctor.”
“Huh?” said Rob. He stopped chewing his gum and held his breath. What if Willie May healed him and then he had to go back to school?
“Sadness,” said Willie May, closing her eyes and nodding her head. “You keeping all that sadness down low, in your legs. You not letting it get up to your heart, where it belongs. You got to let that sadness rise on up.”
“Oh,” said Rob. He let his breath out. He was relieved. Willie May was wrong. She couldn’t cure him.
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Chapter 21 Quotes
Willie May lit another cigarette and laughed. “Ain’t that just like God,” she said, “throwing the two of you together?” She shook her head. “This boy full of sorrow, keeping it down low in his legs. And you,”—she pointed her cigarette at Sistine—“you all full of anger, got it snapping out of you like lightning. You some pair, that’s the truth.”
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Chapter 30 Quotes
“And on Monday,” his father continued, “I aim to call that principal and tell him you’re going back to school. I ain’t messing around with taking you to more doctors. You’re going back and that’s that.”
“Yes, sir,” said Rob. He didn’t mind the thought of going back to school. School was where Sistine would be.
His father cleared his throat. “It’s hard for me to talk about your mama. I wouldn’t never have believed that I could miss somebody the way I miss her. Saying her name pains me.” He bent his head and concentrated on putting the cap on the tube of medicine. “But I’ll say it for you,” he said. “I’ll try on account of you.”
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Rob looked at his father’s hands. They were the hands that had held the gun that shot the tiger. They were the hands that put the medicine on his legs. They were the hands that had held him when he cried. They were complicated hands, Rob thought.
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Rob’s Rash Symbol Timeline in The Tiger Rising
The timeline below shows where the symbol Rob’s Rash appears in The Tiger Rising. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Now, Rob waits for the bus, thinking about the tiger instead of the itchy rash on his legs or his dead mother. Rob cried at her funeral and his father...
(full context)
Chapter 2
...defend him, either. So Rob just takes it as the boys make fun of his rash and hurt him. He thinks about the tiger to keep from crying in pain. Then,...
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Chapter 5
...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...
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Chapter 7
...tells Sistine he doesn’t have to come back to school because people are concerned his rash is contagious. Sistine puts a hand on Rob’s leg, whispering that she hopes to catch...
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Chapter 8
After reading Mr. Phelmer’s note, Rob’s father says the rash isn’t contagious. But he asks if Rob wants to stay home and agrees to let...
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Chapter 10
...offers Rob gum, and asks again why he’s home. Rob explains about his potentially contagious rash, and Willie May scoffs—Rob has the leg rash because all his sadness is in his...
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Chapter 15
...clothes, Rob’s father calls him into their room to apply the leg medicine to his rash. Rob is suddenly unhappy—he knows the room will be dark. The world seemed light and...
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Chapter 22
...to be so happy. Rob’s father jerks awake, sighs, and applies Rob’s medicine to Rob’s rashy legs gently.
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Chapter 25
...else hates Rob, and storms away. Willie May comforts Rob, but Rob just scratches his rash until Willie May makes him stop. She says that she wants the tiger to “rise...
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Chapter 30
Later, as Rob’s father puts medicine on Rob’s rash, he sings. When the song is done, he says that Caroline loved it. Then, he...
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