54 pages 1 hour read

Gordon Korman

Born to Rock

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Character Analysis

Leo Caraway

Leo Caraway is the first-person narrator and protagonist of Born to Rock. Leo begins the novel as “president of my high school’s Young Republicans, accepted to Harvard, and on a fast track to a six-figure income” (3-4). Leo also has a wild side he nicknames McMurphy, whom Leo has blamed for misbehavior and acting out ever since he found out his biological father is a stranger named Marion X. McMurphy. Leo feels McMurphy is a strange, unknown part of himself that he must suppress.

However, two things knock Leo’s life off track: He’s wrongfully accused of cheating, which results in the revocation of his Harvard scholarship, and he discovers that Marion X. McMurphy is the birth name of King Maggot—the frontman of Purge, the most notorious punk band of all time. Leo eventually puts together that he has a rich biological father that can pay for his Harvard tuition and formulates a plan to get close to King Maggot for that purpose alone. However, along the way, Leo also gets to know the McMurphy side of his identity. He describes seeing Purge for the first time like seeing “McMurphy in its purest form” (103).

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 54 pages of this Study Guide
Plus, gain access to 8,600+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools