4 Reasons Why Max Cobb is incompetent
Max Cobb, the main character seen in Don't Get Caught, written by Kurt Dinan, is one of the most incompetent characters you will come around (No offense Mr. Dinan). He runs into problems with everyday life, school, and even an evil pranking club. We see him creating all of the most of the schemes and even having the best prank, but every decision he makes puts the group in constant risk and shows his incompetence to run a group like Water Tower Five. 1. He is a below average student
From page 7, till the end, we are given many non-subtle clues to Max being a below average student. "Score in the forty-ninth percentile on the ACT three times running?" (Dinan 7). "Mr. 2.5 GPA..." (Dinan 9). All of these different things show his incompetence as it's defined as "[I]nability to do something successfully; ineptitude" (Websters). as he fails to do well in school and for a national standardized test. The fact that Max resents that he is this way and still doesn't do anything to stop it is why he is incompetent.
2. Max has no social life
While he is introduced as an unintelligent student, we also see his ineptitude to have a social life. We are introduced to a no life student who considers himself "Just Max." He even compares himself to the fact that he doesn't ahve the capacity to be cool thinking, "The only problem is 'cool' and 'Max Cobb' go together about as well as sharp knives and dull minds" (Dinan 7). A main character with no social life will find a difficult path in a book where he needs to get information, create a group of friends, and wage war against somebody. All I'm trying to say, is why would a nobody have something like that done against him... Only time can tell.
3. He constantly makes the worst decisions given the scenario
When life gives max Cobb lemons, he pays for them then sells them at a cheaper price for then what he bought that at. Max Cobb has a consistent problem of making the worst decision when given options. Here is an example (BIG SPOILER!); 1. I go to the meeting with the Chaos Club and tell no one in my group about it, or 2. I tell my Water Tower Five group and go to the meeting and set them up. Guess what our friend does? Here's another; 1. Join the most illustrious group in his towns history or, 2. Not join them, and go back to trying to ruin something everyone in the school loves. If I was the character in this book, not only would my decisions result in a better life for myself, but decisions that also don't aggravate me.
4. Max can't take a hint
After Max "successfully" takes down the Chaos Club we see that his favorite teacher was actually the head of it. Not only does this make him feel bad but it makes him feel guilty for making him lose his job, moving away, and destroying this treasure that was the Chaos Club. This could have all been prevented if "'You're swinging at ghosts'" (Dinan 155). and "'We didn't pull those pranks'" (Dinan 155). had actually been listened to and comprehended. Max Cobb is guilty to destroying what many kids loved and not having the comprehension skills of a first grader.
With all 4 of these reasons given, we can clearly see that Max Cobb is indeed incompetent. Any other character or human being in his place would have avoided all danger and risks he took by understanding what was placed in front of themselves. But maybe that's just the type of character Max Cobb is suppose to be.
