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Chapter 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Puberty
Friendship, Fitting In, and Social Pressure
Religion
Family Conflict
Summary
Analysis
Margaret takes her bras upstairs as soon as she gets home. She fastens one around her waist and then pulls it up. When she studies her reflection in the mirror, she doesn’t look any different. When Margaret stuffs socks into the bra, it’s too tight—but Margaret likes that she looks more like Laura Danker. At dinner that night, Dad congratulates Margaret, embarrassing her.
It doesn’t take long for Margaret to figure out how to do her bra clasps herself—she’s already growing up. Then she experiments with looking more developed by stuffing her bra which, though uncomfortable, makes her feel more mature than most sixth-graders. And getting a bra continues to have its embarrassing side, thanks to Dad.
Themes
On Monday, Margaret studies her male classmates so she has names for her Boy Book. Philip Leroy is the best-looking boy, and she also decides to list Jay Hassler. Just before the bell rings, Mr. Benedict assigns a year-long project on something personal and meaningful. He’s not going to ask what their topics are, and he’s not going to dictate what exactly they do. The class groans, and Mr. Benedict looks disappointed. Margaret thinks that the students make him nervous. Nancy sometimes points out that he never calls on Laura Danker. As the students line up to leave, Mr. Benedict tells them to please be prepared for their test on Thursday. Teachers never say please.
Margaret is picking boys for her Boy Book based solely on looks—presumably, this will help her please Nancy. Again, it’s not clear whether Nancy is right that Mr. Benedict never calls on Laura—Margaret hasn’t observed this herself. When it comes to Mr. Benedict, Margaret shows that she feels bad for him—with his open-ended assignments and courteous language, he doesn’t fit expectations for a teacher.
Themes
Margaret, Janie, and Gretchen go straight to Nancy’s after school. They all agree that Mr. Benedict’s project is “crazy.” After Nancy calls roll (with their fancy names), the girls feel each other’s backs to check for bras. They’re all wearing a bra, and Janie, Gretchen, and Margaret are all wearing Gro-Bras. Proudly, Nancy says that she’s wearing a 32AA. She insists that to move up from the “baby bras,” the girls have to exercise. She demonstrates the moves: she sticks out her chest and pumps her arms, chanting “I must—I must—I must increase my bust.” The other girls copy her, and Nancy says they need to do it 35 times per day for results.
The fact that Janie, Gretchen, and Margaret are all in Gro-Bras suggests that they’re all in roughly the same place developmentally. Nancy, though, is just big enough to move up into standard bra sizing, which she lords over her friends. Calling the Gro-Bras “baby bras” makes her friends feel inferior for not being able to fit into standard sizing and for being behind Nancy. The bust exercise allows the girls to feel in control of their development (though this exercise doesn’t do anything for breasts, as Judy Blume has made clear in interviews).
Themes
Next, everyone pulls out their Boy Books. Nancy flips through each book first and then passes them around. Janie and Gretchen each listed a handful of boys, with Philip Leroy in the number one spot. Nancy listed 18 boys, and Philip was again number one. Margaret, however, has Philip in second and Jay Hassler in first. Margaret is annoyed when Nancy asks for her reasoning for putting Philip second; she didn’t ask the other girls why they put him first. An eyebrow raise makes Nancy stop pushing, though. After the meeting, Nancy opens her bedroom door to find Evan and Moose outside. The boys follow the girls downstairs and then shout, “We must—we must—we must increase our bust.”
Conventional wisdom is that Philip Leroy is the most popular boy in the class. The fact that Nancy put him first in her Boy Book makes the other girls feel justified in their choice; it’s also why Nancy questions Margaret about making different choices. When Margaret shuts Nancy down with an eyebrow raise, though, it suggests it might not be so hard to stand up to Nancy—she can and will let her friends make their own choices, if only they work up the courage to assert themselves.
Themes
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During math on Thursday, Margaret hears a bird peep. Mr. Benedict hears it too. He opens the window, but the peeps are coming from the classroom. The peeps continue every few minutes and when Nancy kicks Margaret, she knows she has to make a peep. Mr. Benedict says nothing, but the next morning, the students find that he rearranged their desks into a big U around the room. Margaret has to sit next to troublemaker Freddy Barnett on one side, and Laura Danker on the other. Margaret is terrified to “catch” Laura’s reputation, but fortunately, Laura says nothing. The Four PTS’s are all separated, but Nancy gets to sit next to Philip Leroy.
The peeping game in the classroom shows that Margaret is susceptible to peer pressure, just like her classmates—even though she likes Mr. Benedict. It’s a mark of Nancy’s power over Margaret that Margaret doesn’t take the chance to get to know Laura now that they’re sitting next to each other. Margaret is too afraid of “catching” Laura’s reputation—even though it seems more likely that Nancy just doesn’t want Margaret to befriend Laura.
Themes
In gym that afternoon, the boys play baseball with Mr. Benedict while Miss Abbott, the gym teacher, takes the girls. She tells the girls to line up by size. Janie is on one end, while Laura is on the other. Miss Abbott tells the girls that they must stand up straight, no matter how tall they are (she’s at least six feet tall). Then, Miss Abbot says that since the girls are all grown up, they’re going to learn about “private subjects just for girls” later in the year. Margaret already knows everything.
Lining the girls up by size throws the girls’ relative development into sharp relief: Laura is the most developed, while Janie still looks like a small child. (Nancy and Margaret are presumably somewhere in the middle.) Miss Abbot’s remark about “private subjects” suggests that this is the year the girls will learn about puberty and menstruation—a mark of everyone’s growing maturity, even if they’re in different places developmentally.
Themes
Margaret studies hard for her social studies test that night. When she’s done, she does her bust exercises and gets into bed. She tells God she’s been exercising and asks if he’s thought about helping her grow—she has a bra, and she’d like “something to put in it.” She also asks him to help her get a good grade on her test tomorrow.
These days, it seems even more important to Margaret to grow breasts and look mature than it does to fit in by finding a religion. As her comments to God suggest, puberty is constantly on her mind—and most of the time, Margaret seems unsettled and anxious about it.
Themes
At school in the morning, Mr. Benedict passes out the tests and Freddy pokes Margaret. He whispers that nobody is putting their names on their tests to confuse Mr. Benedict. Margaret doesn’t like it, since she studied so hard. But she doesn’t want to be the odd one out. After Janie collects the papers, Margaret figures Mr. Benedict will be mad—but he can’t expel them all, right?
Again, Margaret is more concerned with fitting in with her classmates than she is in being truthful with Mr. Benedict—or true to herself. Telling herself that Mr. Benedict can’t expel everyone is a way for Margaret to feel better about compromising in this way.
Themes
