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Via: The Punnett Square
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
After a week of excruciatingly awkward lunches, Miranda and Ella attach themselves to a popular group. Via finishes War and Peace in the library during lunch so she has an excuse to not see them, and in October, she starts hanging out with a girl named Eleanor. Eleanor is funny and smart kid, and so Via begins having lunch with her at the smart kids' table. Via meets a boy named Justin at the table and has an instant crush on him. When Via runs into Miranda and Ella, they say hi, and Miranda asks after August, but Via never tells August hi for Miranda.
The way that Via talks about eating lunch at the "smart kids' table" shows that there's the same kind of social stratification at play in her high school as there is at Beecher Prep. This begins to show that the status struggles and the bullying that August experiences aren't necessarily unique to him; they're a part of adolescence, figuring out one's identity, and going to school.
Themes
