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Jack: Back From Winter Break
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
At the end of the day, Jack finds a note from Charlotte in his locker asking him to come alone to room 301 after school. There, she swears Jack to secrecy and explains that at Julian's holiday party, everyone but Jack and August were there. Julian told everyone that Jack has emotional problems, that Jack's parents begged the school to not expel him, and that this all happened because Mr. Tushman forced Jack to be friends with August. Charlotte says too that Julian's mom is pushing the school to review August's application, since some assignments have changed a bit to accommodate him.
Though Charlotte is doing a noble thing by clueing Jack into what's going on, she clearly cares more about her own social standing than being kind given that she shares this information secretly and doesn't want her name attached to it. This again shows that even those who don't really want to participate in the social structure are often forced to participate anyway, if only because they fear being ostracized.
Themes
Charlotte says that it's dumb, but Julian's trying to "help" Jack by cutting him off and making him feel lonely. He thinks that it'll make Jack drop August if all the boys refuse to talk to Jack. She explains that the girls except for Savanna's group are neutral. Jack lies and says he doesn't care if nobody talks to him. They agree that Julian's mom editing the class photo was gross. When Charlotte leaves the room, Jack can tell that she doesn't want to been seen talking to him.
Julian's logic rests on the belief that others share his prioritization of social standing over real friendship. The fact that Jack clearly doesn't agree sets Julian up to hopefully begin to reevaluate his thinking and come to a kinder outlook on life and social interactions.
Themes
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