32 pages • 1 hour read
Dav PilkeyCaptain Underpants
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Busted”
An announcement summons George and Harold to Principal Krupp’s office. Ominously, Principal Krupp is smiling—something the boys have never seen. Krupp shows them recorded footage of the boys conducting their pranks before the football game, including sprinkling pepper into the cheerleaders’ pompoms and pouring liquid bubble bath into the musicians’ instruments.
The boys squirm nervously. Krupp joyously tells George and Harold that he has been trying to acquire evidence of their mischief for years.
Chapter 7 Summary: “A Little Blackmail”
George asks what Krupp plans to do with the tape. Krupp tells the boys that he could send copies to their parents, the school board (which would result in expulsion), and the angry football players. The boys beg for him not to. Krupp says that he will only not send the footage if Harold and George adhere to a list of rules. The rules, some which are depicted in an accompanying list, include no more practical jokes, no laughing or smiling, no more production of the Captain Underpants comics, as well as washing Krupp’s car and mowing his lawn. Krupp is depicted as grinning maniacally above the list.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Crime and Punishment”
The morning after their meeting, Harold and George wash Krupp’s car, weed his garden, wash the windows on his house, and clean the gutters. At lunch and recess, the boys go to Krupp’s office to cut his fingernails, iron his tie, vacuum his office, and polish his desktop. They are quiet and attentive in classes, not telling jokes as usual, not even smiling. The boys mow Mr. Krupp’s grass after school and paint the front of his house. Krupp finally dismisses them but sends them home with extra homework.
On their way home, George produces an advertisement for a Hypno-Ring; he suggests that they should hypnotize Principal Krupp into forgetting about the pranks, the videotape evidence, and the list of rules.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Four-to-Six Weeks Later”
The boys are thrilled when the Hypno-Ring arrives in the post; they have been laboring and doing extra homework every day. George and Harold excitedly examine the ring, hoping that—as promised by the advertisement—it will allow them to “amaze our friends, control our enemies, and take over the world” (46).
Chapter 10 Summary: “The 3-D Hypno-Ring”
Harold and George do not go to Mr. Krupp’s house before school the next morning for their usual chores; he is angrily waiting for them when they reach school. The boys explain that they were late trying to work out their new ring; it must be stared at while moved back and forth. Mr. Krupp watches the ring and becomes hypnotized.
The boys instruct him to give them the videotape of their pranks before the football game, and he obeys. The boys replace the tape with a tape of Harold’s little sister’s “Boomer the Purple Dragon Sing-A-Long.”
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
The reader sees more of Krupp’s villainy when he extorts George and Harold into doing his bidding. Pilkey evokes sympathy for the boys as they spend their day toiling for Krupp and fulfilling his degrading requests, such as trimming his fingernails each lunchtime. The reader is further positioned to resent Krupp’s exploitation of the boys, and to hope that the hypno-ring will succeed in freeing them from their obligations to him.
The illustrations of Krupp in Chapters 6, 7, and 8 differ markedly from earlier depictions. Previously, Krupp always wore an expression of fury, whereas in these chapters—where the boys are laboring—he looks joyful and smug. This provides further evidence that Krupp derives joy from humiliating and degrading students. Pilkey depicts this as problematic in someone who is entrusted to lead and care for children.
Comedy is used again through an outlandish situation. The advertisement for the Hypno-Ring—which is only four dollars, yet promises the holder power to “amaze our friends, control our enemies, and take over the world”—seems like it will be a bogus sham (46). Yet, Krupp is immediately hypnotized and agrees to obey the boys’ every command, including surrendering the tape which has allowed him control. Krupp’s hypnotized state is indicated in his slurred responses: “‘Iwwillloobeyyy,’” and in the illustrations which depict his glazed expression and unfocused, swirling eyes.
Related Titles
By Dav Pilkey
