The White Mountains Discussion 2

http://timesonline.typepad.com/blockbuster_buzz/images/2009/03/23/tripod.jpg
How will Beanpole help Will and Henry on their journey to The White Mountains?

First of all, you guys don't have a clue as to who Beanpole is! Don't worry, relax, don't stress! I'll tell you. Here's a brief description on "Beanpole." The reason that I put the quotation marks is because Beanpole's real name is Zhanpole. Actually the only people who call him Beanpole are Henry and Will. Henry created the name Beanpole. After Zhanpole had introduced himself, Henry had said teasingly "More like Beanpole!" That's how the name Beanpole started. Beanpole is tall, skinny, with glasses. He looks sort of geeky, but Beanpole is very helpful. In my Literature Circle Group (Kat, Momo, Hyo Jin and I) all had a discussion on whether Beanpole was a good character or an evil spy character. Kat and Momo wasn't so sure, Hyo Jin thought he was a spy but I think he's a kind person just trying to escape from the evil wraths of those people who took away Henry and Will. Beanpole hasn't been capped (JUST LIKE HENRY AND WILL) so he is also scared of the tripods because he is willing to go to The White Mountains with Henry and Will. That's something they all have in common. Fear of the tripods and they all want to be free.

• Beanpole can help Henry and Will because he speaks the local/native language. The local language is French. If Will and Henry need to travel and they get lost, Beanpole can ask for directions. That way Will and Henry won't seem too suspicious because if you do think about it, two young boys who haven't been capped are "traveling" to someplace, and they speak a foreign language, that does seem very suspicious, doesn't it? But if Beanpole was there with them, instead of Henry and Will babbling to a random local person trying to talk to him or her, Beanpole could do the talking and Henry and Will could be silent so people would think they are local/native as well.

• Beanpole can also help Henry and Will by looking local. Will and Henry look like they are foreigners, they don't have that French look on their faces, they look English (British), and they are. But Beanpole, no, he looks FRENCH! Because he is French. When people speak fluent French to Beanpole to ask him why he is traveling with these foreigners, Beanpole could tell them that they are his cousins, and then they wouldn't seem suspicious at all. Some of the locals may ask Beanpole "What is your name, boy?" Beanpole would then reply (in fluent French) "Zhanpole." The person who asked the question would then leave, no longer suspicious, because Zhanpole is a very French name.

• Another way that Beanpole can help is to show Henry and Will around. Beanpole comes from this town so he knows where things are, he even may know about things all over in France, and he then could help Henry and Will find The White Mountains. Perhaps it isn't far at all, and Ozzymandias was only exaggerating when he told Will that the journey was very difficult, maybe the journey would be hard if you were one person, but there were three. Surely if they thought hard enough about it, they could succeed.

• If Beanpole taught Henry and Will how to speak French, they wouldn't even seem suspicious one tiny bit. They would be like French children, and when people on the streets see them walking by, all they would think is that they are playing. Nobody would ever think "OH MY! These boys are escaping so they won't get capped!" And if anybody does think that, there must be something wrong with their mind.
  

.