Catching Monkeys

The dominant narrative theme is the most obvious part of the novel - the constant attempts by Jay Berry to catch some monkeys that have escaped from a circus. The monkeys are led by a highly trained and very intelligent chimpanzee named Jimbo. Were it not for Jimbo, Jay Berry probably could catch the other monkeys fairly quickly. But Jimbo is too smart and is always one step ahead of Jay Berry. Jimbo uses a stick to set off small animal traps before robbing the bait; later he drives the other monkeys into a massed attack to distract Jay Berry while he frees some captive monkeys from a net; still later he gets Jay Berry drunk. Finally, he steals food and supplies form the wagon of Jay Berry and his Grandpa. Throughout the novel, the primary focus is on catching these monkeys but the Lee family never...