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August: Bear
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Wonder, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Difficulty of Kindness
Independence and Growing Up
Status and Bullying
Identity
Parenting and Guidance
Summary
Analysis
The next day at school, August notices that things are very different. The story of what happened at the camping trip has made its way around the school and has gotten far more fantastical than the truth. For August, the best part is that Amos, Henry, and Miles treat him like he's one of them. Julian's popularity suffers because he wasn't there, and Miles and Henry now choose to hang out with Amos. Julian's behavior towards August, however, doesn't change.
Julian's behavior shows clearly that he's far more interested in trying to regain his popularity by putting August down than he is in changing his behavior and choosing to be kind, as Henry and Miles are. However, now that August is in the more popular group, Julian's bullying has less of an effect. This shows that Julian was far more powerful when he had a group.
Themes
