Wonder By R. J Palacio: Character Analysis

Nira Henning
ELA core 2

In the novel Wonder, by R.J Palacio, there was Ah-Ha signpost when August realizes how his sister, Olivia, feels about him being around her in public and how his mother is sheltering him from reality and knowing what's going on with her and his sister. August shows grit by telling them that he knows what they are arguing about about and they can't make up any lies. The main character august who is in 5th grade and has a peculiar appearance due to all the surgeries he had after birth and has to deal with the problems he is facing in life. For an example, at his new school students are afraid of being around him and say that who ever touches him will get a plague. But 3 brave kids, charlotte, jack, and summer, learn

to accept august flaws and end up finding he is a good friend. His family also encounter problems when they bring august in public like getting weird reacts or people running away and laughing.

His sister, Olivia, has a hard time too because she wants to have a “normal’ teenager school year without having to deal with people gossiping about her brother's condition. Olivia and her mom are arguing about why olivia didn't invite her parents to see the play at school. Olivia is annoyed and doesn't want to feel ashamed for having a uniquely built brother in her school life because she knows if she had invited them to the play they would have brought august and started conflicts. August overhears them and feels that it's his fault his family goes through what they did and tells them he knows what's going on and it's his fault for being “ugly”. He even says in the book “you're both lying to my face like i'm a idiot… you (Olivia) don't want your brand- new fancy high school friends to knows your brother is a freak…”, This quote is showing how his mom tries to deny what he heard but he knows what he heard. Olivia also feels awful about what she said about her little brother but she had to tell her mother how she felt. August can see from that argument between his family that his mother keeps things from him and he doesn't appreciate that also he finds out that Olivia goes through a lot having an intimidating looking brother and having to be

seen around him in public. I see how august feels about him being kept from knowing what's going on. But i can also see how his mom and Olivia feel and how they don't want to hurt august and for olivia she is tired of being known as the girl with the strange looking brother. This could change things because august may feel that it's his fault for putting his family through what they gone through and he is a bad brother. This could lead him back into his “Shell” like in the beginning of the story where he doesn't talk to people and just wants to be alone.