42 pages • 1 hour read
Double Fudge
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Themes
Obsession With Money
Although Fudge is the character who most explicitly talks about money throughout the novel, he is not the only one preoccupied with money. Peter, Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher, and the Fargos all have money on their mind, and as Blume demonstrates in the novel, money might solve a multitude of problems, but it won’t solve everything.
In the first chapter, Peter tries to tell his parents that there is a real problem brewing with Fudge’s fascination with money. When Peter says that “Fudge is obsessed with money” (7), his parents wave off his concerns until Fudge’s behavior becomes difficult to ignore. Fudge brags that he will “never share [his] money” (6), and he talks and writes about money so much that his school takes notice and asks if the Hatchers are having money trouble. This question upsets Mrs. Hatcher in particular because she states that she and her husband have “always worked hard,” “spen[t] carefully,” and “never talk[ed] about money in front of the children” (9). She tries to explain to Fudge that the things that really matter in life—love, family, and friendship—don’t cost anything, but Fudge won’t listen. He starts to equate love with possessions and claims that his mother doesn’t love him because she won’t buy him two pairs of shoes. Fudge thinks money is the key to love and happiness. When Uncle Feather stops talking, Fudge thinks that “a million trillion” dollars will cure his pet. However, Fudge comes to understand that “no amount of money will make Uncle Feather talk again” (117), and when Uncle Feather hurts his wing, money is the last thing on Fudge’s mind.
When Peter learns that Jimmy is moving out of the building, he becomes upset and lashes out at his friend. He accuses Jimmy of leaving him behind “just because [his] father’s getting rich” (22), and Jimmy is understandably offended. Jimmy and his father have never had much money, and money never meant that much to either of them. After all, “no matter how much money Jimmy might have he can’t make his parents get back together” (62). When Peter comments that Jimmy’s father is “rich and famous,” Jimmy asks Peter when he became so obsessed with money, and Peter is taken aback. After all, Fudge is the one who is supposed to be obsessed with money. Still, Peter starts to realize that he has been thinking about money a lot, and he blames money for taking his friend away from him. As Peter’s dad says, “Money can’t fix everything” (117), and while it might lead to a better life for Jimmy and his father in the long run, Peter still feels like his friend chose money and comfort over him.
Changing Family Dynamics
The Fudge series is all about family and the bizarre relationships between siblings. In Double Fudge, Blume uses characters like Fudge, Tootsie, Peter, and even Jimmy to demonstrate that family dynamics are always changing, and even when these changes are for the better, letting go of the past can be difficult.
When Fudge learns that Tootsie is coming with his family to the art show in Chapter 11, he says that he doesn’t want her to come, even though Tootsie is the star of the show. Peter is amused because he remembers “all those times [he] didn’t want [Fudge] to come along” (121) with him and his parents when Fudge was younger. When Tootsie was born in Superfudge, Fudge didn’t like his little sister at first, and he was upset about being usurped as the baby of the family. In Double Fudge, Fudge is annoyed at Tootsie being included in an outing with the older family members because Fudge gets less attention with his baby sister around. Fudge is still young enough that he wants time with his parents and his brother without his little sister, and Blume uses this small moment to draw attention to the ever-changing nature of sibling dynamics and how they can affect behavior and relationships.
Similarly, Jimmy’s family dynamics are changing, and he is worried. Jimmy tells Peter that Mr. Fargo and his new girlfriend will be getting married soon, which means that Jimmy will have a stepmother. Although Jimmy’s parents got divorced, that “doesn’t mean [he] want[s] either one of them to marry someone else” (129) because then the divorce will finally feel permanent. Jimmy worries that Beverly won’t know how to be a parent, but Beverly tells Jimmy that she won’t try to be his mother because he already has one. Instead, “she says [they’ll] be friends” (130). Jimmy doesn’t understand what this means or what it will look like, but his life is changing, and he has decided to try to adapt to the change instead of fighting it.
Growing Up and Becoming Your Own Person
For many older siblings, nothing is quite as annoying as having a younger sibling who wants to copy everything they do. Throughout the Fudge series, Fudge has tried to imitate Peter, but in Double Fudge, Peter notices a shift. Blume uses the relationships between Peter, Fudge, Mini, Flora, and Fauna to show how children will eventually grow tired of imitation and long to become their own person, often when it is least expected.
In the shoe store, Peter expects Fudge to want the same kind of shoe as him. However, Fudge decides that Peter’s shoes “aren’t that cool,” which throws Peter off. Peter wonders, “Since when is [Fudge] the expert on cool? Since when is he the expert on anything?” (12), and he starts to obsess about his shoes because of Fudge’s one comment. Peter is surprised that his little brother doesn’t want to be just like him anymore, and instead, Fudge is forming his own opinions about fashion and what it means to be cool.
Of course, just as Fudge starts to form his own identity, the Hawaii Hatchers arrive with three-year-old Farley Drexel. Fudge is mortified that this younger child has the same name as him, but he loses his cool when Flora and Fauna hint at calling their little brother Fudge. He declares that “[they] can call him Farley or [they] can call him Drexel or [they] can call him F.D., but [they] can’t call him Fudge!” (83). Similarly, the younger Farley grows increasingly frustrated when Flora and Fauna try to speak for him in Chapter 16. He tells the girls that he doesn’t want them talking for him anymore, and they realize that Farley is “growing up,” and he’s “not [their] baby brother anymore” (203).
Even Peter’s father reached this stage in his childhood friendship with his cousin. Eudora says that Howie has told her lots of stories “about how close [Warren and Howie] were as boys and how [they] were both going to be forest rangers when [they] grew up” (88-89). However, when Mr. Hatcher proudly tells Eudora and Howie that he works in advertising, Howie accuses his cousin of giving up his dream and selling out. Mr. Hatcher replies that “it wasn’t a question of selling out, Howie [...]. It was a question of growing up and following my interests” (90). Mr. Hatcher demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with changing your mind and following your own path in life, and although Howie struggles to accept this, Peter’s father is happy with his life, just like Howie is happy with his. Both men had to learn to follow their dreams and become their own person, much like their children are now learning to think for themselves.
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