The author introduces this theme when Mr. Biderbik becomes upset with his son. Charlie Biderbik, a fourteen-year-old, lives with his cowardice father, who he has a lot of respect towards, and with his loving but powerless mother, Mrs. Biderbik. Mr. Biderbik loves to fight. Unlike his father, Charlie thinks that violence is a horrible thing. On the way back home from a dance, which his father had to convince him to go to, Charlie gets stuck in the