Why Gregor is My Favorite Character from Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
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Plot:
Gregor the Overlander is a book by an author named Suzanne Collins, it is her first book in the series. The book is about an eleven-year-old boy named Gregor who travels accidentally to a realm beneath the city of New York called the Underland. In the Underland he battles many ferocious and massive creatures in an attempt to save his father.1 Gregor is believed to be a powerful warrior from the Overland despite being only 11 and not particularly large or strong. Throughout the book Gregor makes friends with many characters including two giant roaches, a retired military rat, and a sometimes haughty princess named Luxa who teaches him to ride giant bats. She calls him Overlander, because he is not from where they are from.2 Gregor and Luxa even fight about it a couple of times though they are always separated by their elder guide Vikus.3 Gregor eventually finds his father held captive by the rat king and unleashes his Rager ability to kill both the King and Luxa's traitorous cousin Harry.4 Gregor is thrown off the side of a cliff by Harry5 as Gregor attempts to run to get his father but is saved by Harry's giant bat as he falls. Harry's bat eventually takes Gregor and his new friends home to the human city before taking Gregor up to the vent he fell through to get to the Underland.
Character:
Gregor is my favorite character because he is a hero despite being less powerful than everyone around him at first, but grows to be strong enough to return to his home. Gregor does have one power, however, he is a rager. In the book a rager6 has the ability to become hyper focused on combat allowing them a berserker like ability to take on massive amounts of foes7 at once. Gregor was unaware of this power until he came to the Underland8 and is deeply afraid of being unable to control it.9 Gregor does not believe that he is a very good warrior despite his ability and this causes him to hesitate and be unable to control his abilities as a rager.
Gregor also cares fiercely about his younger sister Boots and is only able to fully embrace his rager ability in the instances where Boots is in trouble. It is only because of Boots that Gregor falls into the Underland in the first place. She is the first to fall into the vent and Gregor must save her because she is the only family he has left. I believe that this shows [End Page 105] Gregor as a selfless character who will go far to save the people he loves which I aspire to be as well.
Conclusions:
I would recommend Gregor the Overlander to any kids who enjoyed the Harry Potter series or Deltora Quest series. I would also recommend it to any kid who needs to be brave in a new place or feels far from their family. I look forward to seeing where Gregor's adventures will take him in the next book.
Bibliography:
Gregor The Overlander, Suzanne Collins
The first time they called me wetback and I tasted salt
When my hands were not my own
The sound his nose made
How he never made fun of me being half Dominican ever again
The silence that followed
JULIAN RANDALL, a queer black poet from Chicago who received a Pushcart Prize, has received fellowships from Callaloo, BOAAT, and the Watering Hole. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as New York Times Magazine, The Georgia Review, and Sixth Finch, as well as such anthologies as Portrait in Blues, Nepantla, and New Poetry from the Midwest. He is a candidate for the MFA in poetry at Ole Miss and was the 2015 National College Slam (CUPSI) Best Poet. His first book, Refuse, is the winner of the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry prize and will be published by...
