Taking the Side of Ms. Narwin from Avi's Nothing But the Truth

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If you’ve read the book nothing but the truth by Avi, you know that there are many sides you can take. It seems every time you turn a page you can form a new opinion. With every opinion you can form new points of view and sides. One of the main points of view is Ms. Narwin’s. My reasons for taking Ms. Narwin’s side are one, Ms. Narwin meant nothing against patriotism by sending Philip out of the class, two, Philip isn’t doing anything in the sake of Patriotism, three, Philip is a liar who gets around the truth, four, not only does the gossip of people blow things our of proportion, but the press defiantly does too, and five, there is a teacher/student stereotype that gibes the student a “poor me” reputation which makes them always right so they’ll always win.

Every time Ms. Narwin sent Philip out, she meant nothing against patriotism. By the way the author portrays Ms. Narwin, you can assume by her actions and words, her true feelings towards the matter. For instance, on page 44, Ms. Narwin says, “Oh, Stupid business. I suppose it’s this changing home room classes. The announcements and so on. And when the national anthem comes on, the students are supposed to stand in silence.” This shows Ms. Narwin doesn’t think too much on the matter. She says its “stupid business”. Also, she is trying to clarify if that is the definite rule. Through this and other parts of the book, you pick up that Ms. Narwin is very vigilant about what she says and does. She covers herself.

Even though the book never clearly states if Philip isn’t being patriotic, it’s very clear at the end of the book what his true feelings are. On page 212, when the teacher at his new school asks him if he would mind leading the class in the singing of the National Ant...

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...school. Just like in the book, an incident will come up, it becomes “teacher vs. student”, and the fight begins. Next the principal is involved. If the problem is not solved and press gets a word of it, no doubt what the press will do. They’ll take the student’s side. IN the end, the student gets what they want usually. It may sound absurd but the next time you hear about one of these events see whose side you jump to first.

So, if you look back on all of the possible sides, has your opinion changed at all? I took Ms. Narwin’s side because Ms. Narwin wasn’t really against patriotism, Philip wasn’t for patriotism in his acts, Philip wasn’t for patriotism in his acts, Philip lied, Press and gossip leads to things getting blown out of proportion, and when it comes to teacher vs. student, the student will always win because of the stereotype. Whose side would you take?

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