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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Out of My Mind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Disability and Ability
Language, Communication, and Identity
Acceptance vs. Rejection
Family
Summary
Analysis
On Tuesday, Mr. Dimming announces the new Whiz Kids team members. Melody is nervous, and initially disheartened when she isn’t announced as an alternate. But she wasn’t announced as an alternate because she earned a perfect score, and made it on to the primary team, along with Connor, Claire, and Rose. Mr. Dimming apologizes for underestimating her, and promises to contact the quiz team officials to make sure they can accommodate Melody, but her new teammates are unwelcoming, and even Rose is disbelieving.
For the first time, Mr. Dimming acknowledges Melody’s intelligence. Unfortunately, Melody legitimately earning a spot on the team does not make her teammates less skeptical of her abilities or ready to embrace her as belonging to the Whiz Kids.
Themes
Melody gets so excited that she loses control of her body, and has a tornado explosion in the middle of class. Catherine has to wheel her out, and Melody is proud of making the team but embarrassed about her outburst.
Melody’s tornado outburst emphasizes the way Melody is and is not like her classmates. She is like them because she is smart, driven, and now a member of the Whiz Kids team, but she still has her disability, and her lack of bodily control separates her from her peers.
Themes
