The Tiger Rising

Many of the characters in the novel repress their emotions and thereby deny truth and self-knowledge. This trait is most transparent in Rob, who becomes “the best not-crier in the world” (6) after his father slaps him out of his tears, arresting his grieving process. Rob does not cry even when he is physically and emotionally injured by the Threemonger brothers. Rob internalizes his memories, grief, and wishes. He actively visualizes this process: mentally closing the lid on his mental suitcase of troubling feelings and locking it shut (4). Rob’s rash is a physical manifestation of his emotional suppression. Willie May knows that Rob needs to let his sorrow “rise on up” to his heart, “where it belongs” (37).

Like the tiger angrily pacing its cage, Rob scratches at the “itch that was always there” (101), which will not resolve until he acknowledges his feelings. DiCamillo describes the release of pent-up memories and feelings with imagery of upward motion. When Rob laughs with Sistine and suddenly feels happiness, “it was as if his soul had grown and was pushing everything up higher in his body” (53).