Story Review of The Goodness of Matt Kaizer

The story, “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer”, written by Avi, talks about a sixth-grade teenager named Matt Kaizer, whose father is a minister, always accepts dares from his gang friends, Chuck, Todd, Nick, and Marley. Matt originally thinks he is bad and has no goodness inside him. One day, the gang challenges Matt to visit Mary Beth's dying father. Matt accepts and brings flowers, inspired by his mom’s visit to sick aunt. Though Mary initially refuses Matt’s visit three times at the front door, Matt convinces Mary to let him go inside the house. Mary’s dying father mistakenly sees Matt as an angel because of Matt’s appearance, prompting Matt to flee in fear. Later, Matt’s father, the minister, discusses the visit with him and dares Matt to return to Mary’s dying father, who has improved since Matt’s visits. Those visits, at the same time, leads Matt to recognize his own goodness, causing his behavior and personality to change positively. The gang eventually breaks as Matt embraces his true nature. To better understand this story, a reader needs to see the themes underneath: Family Influence, Goodness vs Evilness, and Encouragement vs Provoke. 

One’s behaviors, attitudes, and values about life are significantly affected by his family since family members serve as primary role models since one was born. Usually, a person would observe and copy the ways of doing, talking, and thinking of their family members, which in turn, integrate them into his own personality and value system. Matt’s dad, a minister, is a good man setting a good example for Matt to follow. Similarly, Matt’s mom, buying flowers to visit his sick aunt, establishes a good example of politeness. Matt witnesses good behaviors of his family members. “ The guy was easygoing, always dressed decently, and as far as I knew, never raised his voice or acted any way than what he was, a nice man, a good man.” Matt’s dad, the minister, is a good person and everyone respects him. As a father as well as a minister, he tries to shape Matt in the same way he did before and transforms him into a good person. Matt’s father knows, from the bottom of his heart, that Matt is a good kid, saying “Matt, I do believe there’s goodness in everyone. That goes for you too.” He believes that Matt just gets lost sometimes. At the same time, the public would assume that it is normal for Matt to do good things because his father is the minister. This opinion would bring some pressure on Matt because everyone expects him to do good things. If he does bad things, people would think he should not do that. The public has a higher moral standard for Matt, which explains why Matt always dares to do some bad things. In addition, Matt learns some good manners from his mom. “I’m going to buy some flowers and bring them to him. That’s what my mother did when my aunt was sick.” When Matt dares to visit Mary’s dying father, he brings some flowers with his own money to show his politeness. Family influences are profound in shaping children’s basis for moral and ethical reasoning. 

It is human nature that people possess both good and evil aspects and people are constantly navigating between both aspects. Through the external influence and personal reflection, people eventually would uncover the underlying goodness in themselves, which might take some time. Initially, Matt perceives himself as a bad kid. He accepts dares from the gang to engage in mischief. However, after visiting Mary’s dying father, Matt begins to question where there is goodness within him. Originally Matt thinks himself is bad or doing something bad. Matt wants badness shown on him. After visiting Mary’s dying father, Matt starts to think about what is good and what is bad and he realizes that he is actually not that bad, especially hearing what Mary’s father had done about the bad things. Matt says "I am not bad. No Way. Not compared to him. I even tried to tell him of some of the things I've done." Those visits engage Matt in serious thinking whether he really wants to be good inside. Matt says “What if I’m really good inside?” External experiences often provide new perspectives and insights, which would encourage people to reassess their actions and beliefs. Personal reflection, at the same time, would allos poep[;e for introspection and a deeper understanding of oneself, which could gradually reveal one’s positive qualities and potential for food. Regardless of circumstances, people inherently possess both goodness and evilness within them. Ultimately, it is their decision to choose which path to follow. 

Encouragement and provoking both serve to affect a person’s actions and decisions positively and negatively, respectively, while they are different in nature and in communication. Encouragement is a supportive action or statement to inspire a person to do something good or foster their confidence, while provoke is to intentionally stimulate an action to challenge or irritate someone. Matt’s gang friends frequently challenge him to do mischief, and Matt always accepts these dares. Matt’s dad, a minister, on the contrary, consistently motives Matt to do or choose positive actions instead. Matt’s friends always dares Matt to do something bad. “Hey, minister’s kid! Dare you to . . .” and we’d challenge him to do something, you know, really gross. Meanwhile, Matt’s father always uses positive words or statements to let Matt know he is actually good inside him. “Someday you’ll find your own goodness. And when you do you’ll be free.” What Matt’s friends do is provoke; Matt’s father, the opposite side, is doing encouragement. The purpose of encouragement is to uplift and support, and the purpose of provoking is to stir the challenges or conflicts. Typically, encouragement would result in positive feelings and motivations, but provoking could possibly lead to anger, frustration, or defensiveness. Obviously, both encouragement and provoking would make a person react or do something. Also, they both affect the emotions of a person, either positively (encouragement) or negatively (provoke) . People should encourage other people to do the right things and not provoke them to do things that they aren’t supposed to do. Encouragement promotes positivity while provoking stirs conflicts or challenges, although both deal with emotions and actions. 

“The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” by avail tells the story of Matt, a minister’s son, who never refuses a dare, which leads his gang friends to frequently trick him into performing mischievous acts. But Matt’s father remains confident that Matt possesses goodness inside him, which will emerge eventually. This story reflects three themes: Family Influence, Goodness vs Evilness, and Encouragement vs Provoke. Family members act as  primary role models in shaping a person’s behaviors, attitudes, and values. Everyone has both goodness and evilness inside. But evilness could be transformed into goodness through external influence and personal reflection. Encouragement and provoking are two sides of the same coin. Both prompt action and affect emotion, through differences in approach and expression.