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Justin: Valentine's Day
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
Justin explains that at school, they're doing the play Our Town for the spring show. Via dared him to try out for the lead role and somehow, he got it. Miranda got the female lead, while Via was cast as the understudy. Justin is nervous about having only six weeks to memorize his lines and keep up with the rest of his life. He also heard that Mr. Davenport, the drama teacher, originally planned on putting on The Elephant Man but changed at the last minute.
For Justin, Our Town is an opportunity for him to come into himself and become more comfortable in his own skin. The fact that Justin can make this transformation by acting reinforces the novel's assertion that empathy and understanding (which actors need to properly portray their characters) are necessary to grow up.
Themes
