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 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Extremely Graphic Violence Chapter”
This chapter opens with a warning that it contains “graphic scenes showing two boys beating the tar out of a couple of robots” (79). The chapter is arranged as a “flip-o-rama”: Illustrations on the right can be flipped through to create a moving image of George and Harold pummeling the robot guards until they become “MIXED NUTS (... AND BOLTS!)” (97).
Chapter 17 Summary: “The Escape”
George and Harold, having defeated the robot guards, untie Captain Underpants. Captain Underpants insists that they must save the world before they leave; Harold finds and pulls the self-destruct lever of the laser-matic machine, making it explode. Furious that they thwarted his plans, Doctor Diaper appears and points his Diaper-Matic 2000 ray gun at the group.
Captain Underpants flicks a pair of underpants onto Doctor Diaper’s head, stopping him from firing. George wonders where Captain Underpants got the extra pair of underwear; Captain Underpants asks, “what extra pair?” (104). In subsequent illustrations in the chapter, he is depicted wearing a barrel.
The group worries that they will not escape the explosion of the laser-matic in time. They run from the building. An illustration depicts Captain Underpants leading Doctor Diaper, whose face is still covered.
Chapter 18 Summary: “To Make a Long Story Short”
The group safely escapes the warehouse before the laser-matic explodes.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Back to School”
George, Harold, and Captain Underpants tie Doctor Diaper up outside the police station with a note saying: “Arrest Me!” Then they return to school, where George and Harold instruct Captain Underpants to put on Mr. Krupp’s clothes and wear an angry expression.
Back in Mr. Krupp’s office, the boys struggle to change Captain Underpants back to Mr. Krupp. Snapping their fingers does not work, and they cannot find the instructions for the Hypno-Ring. George pours water over Captain Underpants’s head, which successfully turns him back into Mr. Krupp.
Mr. Krupp furiously declares that he is sending the videotape, which he thinks is of George and Harold’s pranks but is actually of “Purple Dragon Sing-A-Long Friends,” to the football team. Harold and George find the instructions for the Hypno-Ring but decide to throw them away. In an illustration, a warning on the back of the information pamphlet reads—“whatever you do, don’t pour water on anybody’s head when they are in a trance! This will cause the hypnotized person to slip back and forth from trance to reality whenever they hear the sound of fingers snapping” (116).
Chapter 20 Summary: “The End?”
The school football team, who loved the video Mr. Krupp sent, change their name from the Knuckleheads to the Purple Dragon Sing-A-Long Friends. George and Harold return to their mischievous ways. However, they keep an eye on Mr. Krupp, who turns back into Captain Underpants whenever he hears the sound of fingers snapping. The last splash panel depicts Captain Underpants running from the school yelling “Tra-La-Laaaaa!” (121).
Chapters 16-20 Analysis
Pilkey satirizes safety warnings. He subverts them by mocking the reader for their sensitivity, rather than offering a genuine warning. For example—“if you have high blood pressure, or if you faint at the sight of motor oil, we strongly urge you to take better care of yourself and stop being such a baby” (79). In keeping with his satirical style, the book’s violence is light-hearted and comedic: In a play-on-words the robots are reduced to “MIXED NUTS (... AND BOLTS!)” (97).
Some of Pilkey’s humor relies on reveals and timing. In the outlandish scene where Captain Underpants flicks the underpants he’s wearing at Doctor Diaper, George wonders where Captain Underpants got the extra pair, and Captain Underpants asks “[W]hat extra pair?” (104). The subsequent illustrations, which depict Captain Underpants wearing a barrel, reveal that he was naked after using his own underwear as a weapon.
This section illustrates one of the book’s main themes, how Good Will Triumph Over Evil. Doctor Diaper is handed over to the authorities, and the boys free themselves from the hold of Mr. Krupp. Good triumphs in a benign, nonviolent way. Instead of leaving Doctor Diaper to perish in the explosion, Captain Underpants leads him out.
The instruction manual foreshadows how Mr. Krupp will be permanently stuck in a state where he can transform at any moment—“whatever you do, don’t pour water on anybody’s head when they are in a trance! This will cause the hypnotized person to slip back and forth from trance to reality whenever they hear the sound of fingers snapping” (116).
Captain Underpants is the opposite of Principal Krupp. He is Krupp’s ultimate foil, or a character that highlights the traits of another character through contrasting ones. Captain Underpants is brave and giving and wants to save the world. Krupp is cruel and controlling and exploits young children. Krupp’s transformation, however, may signify that, deep inside, he is good. In real life, hypnosis helps people to do things they want to do, but feel they can’t, like quit smoking. It is not used to force people to act against their will or nature. Perhaps, the book suggests, people change when they grow up but inwardly maintain their inner child. Hypnosis may have brought out the version of Krupp that he has buried deep inside.
The book’s ending suggests that Krupp, though changed back into the principal, maintains his inner child, or Captain Underpants. It also suggests that the line between the two—like the line between all adults and their inner children—is blurry. With the simple cue of snapping fingers, Krupp can become a superhero again.
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