Hi, Dashiell,
Thanks for posting. I’m glad you enjoyed BORN TO ROCK. Maybe I can clear up some of the problems you have with it.
When Leo was born, only the mother was present. She always thought the father was King Maggot, and that’s the name she put down on the birth certificate. It’s customary for a birth certificate to have the name of both parents.
Leo, who is quite strait-laced and conservative, recognizes a certain undisciplined wildness in himself, and assumes that it must be an inheritance from his unknown father. That’s what’s meant by “genetic hitchhiker.” He feels he needs to control that side of himself to reach his life goals — Ivy League school, etc. He doesn’t have to know who McMurphy is; he just knows he represents the undisciplined side of himself. He never assumes that McMurphy is a “normal guy,” because he feels the need to explain his own wilder impulses. And when he finds out his father is King Maggot (or so he’s led to believe) he knows for sure that his genetic hitchhiker is definitely not dignified and conservative.
Does that help? It was the most fun to write of any of my books so far!
—-Gordon Korman—-