While reading WONDER by R.J. Palacio, I felt many emotions. One of the strongest emotions I felt was disbelief. While I know the reactions toward Auggie in the book are the same reactions toward people with special needs, I just do not understand how people can act like that. It broke my heart the way some people treated him. I can understand the initial shock and that it may take time to get used to his appearance, but I do not think that it is fair that he is treated differently than any other person. I think it is particularly sad that just because his appearance is not like that of other children, his intelligence is repeatedly questioned by people who assume he is not smart.
After reading the book, it is clear that even at really young ages, children notice physical differences among each other. Auggie has always known that he was different than everyone else and he came to accept that. With him only being a 5th grader, I was amazed by that. Often, young children do not understand why they are treated differently, and they most definitely do not accept it. I personally think that if I had been put in Auggie's situation, I would not have been as strong as him, and I definitely do not think I would have chosen to start going to a public school in middle school. Middle school is brutal on the best of us. Auggie shows so much courage in that sense.
If I was a character in the story, I would like to think of myself as Summer. I would want to be friends with Auggie, even if it meant that I maybe lost some of my friends, though, if they were really my friends, they would support me and not question my motives. I think Summer and I are a lot alike in the sense that we both see Auggie for who he really is.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is "I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks."
"Wonder" by R. J. Palacio (p. 73).
I like this quote because it shows how much Auggie desires to be liked by people, instead of immediately being judged by his appearance. I also think this is a quote everyone should live by because it tells how we should treat other. We should get to know someone by talking and interacting with them, not by what skin color they have or what deformity or handicap they may have. Being accepted and feeling like they belong somewhere is one of the basic physiological needs in Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
I think it is cool that we get to see the story through different people in Auggie's life's eyes. It gave added insight to the story. When we saw it through Jack's eyes, we see what really happened that day that he bad-mouthed Auggie in homeroom. We see how torn up he was about it. Had it only been through Auggie's point-of-view, we may have seen Jack in a different light.
I also really liked getting to see the story through Miranda's eyes because, even though her life was changing as she enters high school and she's not even friends with Via (Auggie's older sister) anymore, she makes an effort to stay in touch with Auggie, which says something about her as a person. She genuinely cares about him as a person, not just because he was her best friends little brother.
My Personal Precept
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." -E.E. Cummings
I think this is a guiding principle for life because, in today's society, we are always trying to be like someone else. The world has taught us that we should want better than what we have, when we are blessed with what we have now.
I chose this quote by E.E. Cummings as my personal precept because I often finding myself unhappy with myself because I'm not like this person or that person. I constantly find myself looking at this quote.
I think this precept fits well with WONDER as well. Auggie stays true to himself in the novel and I think that alone should encourage others to be themselves because most of us are not faced with and will more than likely the same difficulties and obstacles that he was.
