An Inductive Leap Too Far

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2011. Print.

Jacob, a sixteen-year-old, journeys to a remote island off the coast of Wales to try to learn more about his grandfather's mysterious past. He discovers the ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and finds out that these children who had supposedly died during WWII, might somehow still be alive. He follows them through a tunnel which takes him back in time to 1940, when the house was still intact. Jacob has no idea what is going on, he still believes it is present day. Emma, one of the children he followed, is frightened by him. She makes an inductive leap and believes he is a "wight", disguised as a boy, intent on killing her and the rest of the children. Wights have pale, white eyes so she demands to see his and accuses him of having fake eyes when he shows them they are normal. She almost kills him but the other children persuade her to give him a chance to explain himself.

"Something grabbed me by the hair. Before I'd even had a chance to cry out, a hand whipped around from behind and pressed something sharp to my throat.
"Scream and I'll cut you," came a voice.
Keeping the blade to my neck, my assailant pushed me against the outhouse wall and stepped around to face me. To my great surprise, it wasn't one of the men from the pub. It was the girl. She wore a simple white dress and a hard expression, her face strikingly pretty even though she appeared to be giving serious thought to gouging out my windpipe.
"What are you?" she hissed.
"An-- uh-- I'm an American," I stammered, not quite sure what she was asking. "I'm Jacob."
She pressed the knife harder against my throat, her hand shaking. She was scared-- which meant she was dangerous. "What were you doing in the house?" she demanded. "Why are you chasing me?"
"I just wanted to talk to you! Don't kill me!"
She fixed me with a scowl. "Talk to me about what?"
"About the house-- about the people who lived there."
"Who sent you here?"
"My grandfather. His name was Abraham Portman."
Her mouth fell open. "That's a lie!" she cried, her eyes flashing. "You think I don't know what you are? I wasn't born yesterday! Open your eyes-- let me see your eyes!"" (Riggs 127, 128)

If the other children hadn't given Jacob a chance to explain himself, Emma would have made an inductive leap too far and killed him on the spot. Later, when Jacob learns that Emma and his grandfather were "sweethearts" back in 1940, he realises why she was so reluctant to believe him. She didn't want to believe that he was there to deliver bad news about his grandfather. This becomes a very important element to Jacob and Emma's relationship, because he looks so similar to his grandfather that Emma just might fall for him too.