The bully

How does the character of Tony change throughout the short story?

In the beginning of the story, Tony starts of as a bully, but as the story advances and they become adults Tony stops bullying Roger. Tony, as a grown-up is crippled and in a wheel chair, Tony empathizes with Roger, because he believes this is how his bullying made Roger feel, as if he had no power, and could not do anything to stop the bullying. Being in the wheel chair made him realize how he made his victims feel, and made him decide to stop bullying people.

How does this change affect Roger?

Seeing Tony makes him see that Tony feels the same way as he did when he was bullied, he does not laugh at Tony, but he tries to make tony feel better by offering Tony to go out for lunch. Seeing Tony, did not make Roger happy, instead he ignored what Tony did to him before and tried to help him.

What do you think Tony means when he said, "I guess you're thinking, 'What goes around comes around?'”

I believe that Tony meant, that him being in a wheel chair is a consequence for bullying Roger as a kid. That him bulling Roger was a bad thing, and that bad things come back so because Tony bullied Roger he ended up in the wheel chair.  

Why do you think the author wrote this story? What message did the author wish to convey?

I think the author wrote the story to show that people do change over time, and that people learn from their mistakes. I also think he wrote the story because he won’t people to know that bully is not right, it makes people feel helpless and insecure and nobody would want to be bullied.