Chapter 20

In chapter 20 Matt's and his parent's name appears in the newspaper. From my point of view this is the worst thing that could have happened. Now everyone knows that Matt Donaghy was the boy who has threatened to blow up the school and to murder as many people as he can. This will change the family and the city. Maybe some people will threaten the Donaghys so that they shall move. And because just a few people know that Matt wasn't serious when he has said these horrible things, mostly all people believe that Matt Donaghy would have blown up the school. Actually, there is just one solution for the Donaghys. They should move to another city outside of New York or maybe outside of the USA. They should move to a place where no one knows them.
So the Donaghys have to go through a really hard time.

Chapter 19

In chapter 19 the twins bandy rumors about Ugly Girl and Matt Donaghy. It won't last very long till everyone in school knows these rumors. But in my opinion Ursula's action is still right. But maybe she should tell the principal that the twins have lied so that the truth will be brought to light. The twins should get their deserved punishment and everyone should know that Matt Donaghy is unblameable. So that Matt and his family can live a normal life again.
From my point of view Ursula should ignore the silly twins because this would be the best thing. Furthermore, it will be good if Ursula and Matt become friends because each of them needs someone to talk to. Matt needs a friend so that he isn't any longer alone and so that he endures the next hard weeks. Ursula needs Matt because she is involved now and if they are like a team it is much easier for each of them to endure this time.

Chapter 18

In chapter 18 Ursula acts right. From my point of view it is important that she wants to talk to Matt or contact him because he is lonely and he needs someone he can talk to. Furthermore it is right that Ursula accosts the twins and that she tries to find out whether they informed on Matt Donaghy or not. After she found out that the twins lied and that their father called the school office, she tries to make the twins clear that it wasn't funny at all to bring Matt in such a bad situation because they destroyed his life and his family's life.
In my opinion the twins hoped that they will have a day off and the twins wanted to have fun but they didn't think about the consequences. So they made a really big mistake. They actually deserve to flunk out of school because of their bad behavior.

Chapter 17

In chapter 17 Matt's mother breaks down and she wants to move. Matt is really unconfident because he doesn't know how to calm his mother. She cries and is very despaired. Everywhere she goes, the people know that she is the mother of the boy who was arrested and suspended for 2 days. In this situation Matt says:”Mom, I'm sorry. My big mouth...” ´That seems that he thinks that it is just his fault and that just he is responsible for the whole thing. But in my opinion it is wrong to think like this because he was joking when he has said these things. So EVERYBODY must notice that he was joking and it isn't funny at all to inform a teacher that Matt wants to blow up the school. Matt couldn't never have known that someone would tell this a teacher. But from my point of view it is very important and right that Matt's mother says that it isn't his fault. Otherwise Matt could have guilty conscience for his whole life and that could have consequences. So Matt mustn't believe that it is his fault.

Chapter 16

Dear Diary,
from my point of view it was a really good idea from my mother to go to the theater and watch the dance group. But I doesn't like the dance style and I haven't had enough space for my long legs. So I have left the theater and I started jogging to Central Park. I've watched some skaters and I've seen an art exhibit at the National Academy of Design. There I've seen great posters. They were really really nice. After that, I jogged back for watching the skaters again. Suddenly, I saw a boy and I thought that he is Matt Donaghy. I wanted to shout:” Hey Matt, it is me. Your friend Ursula." But it wasn't him.
When I jogged back the exit of the theater, I saw some girls. They were ugly, too. But they seemed to be really self-confident because they were in a group and not like me alone. In my opinion it would be much better if I would have a group or some friends because then I would feel much more safe and self-confident.
Got to go now, Ursula

Chapter 15

In chapter 15, Matt writes an email to Ursula but he doesn't send it to her. From my point of view it is a big mistake that he doesn't send this email to Ursula because he wants Ursula to be his friend and he declares her his lonely situation. If he would have sent the email maybe Ursula would have felt sympathy for him and would have helped him to feel happy and to find a way back into his old normal life. But he doesn't send the email, so he will be alone for a longer time. He is very sad because he can't spend time with his family. Furthermore, he feels sorry for himself and he is discontent about his whole situation in school and at home.
In my opinion he would feel better if he would have sent the email to Ursula because maybe she would have been his friend and would have helped him once again.

Chapter 14

In chapter 14, Matt lists some things, which his parents say to him and say about him. A few things could hurt him mentally and could make him sad. But the other things are harmless. In my opinion it is very hard to hear things like:”He is depressed. …” or “He is rude to Alex. Alex loves him.”
Some of these things remind me of my relationship with my parents. There was a time, when my parents say similar things to me. During that time, it is much harder to be happy and friendly than it is, when your relationship to your parents is good and you can talk to them about everything you want to. During a bad relationship to your parents it is important to have friends because you need friends to talk about things, which you can't talk about at home with your family. But Matt doesn't accept the help of his friends. So he has to find a solution to adjust his life to be happy.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 is called „Ugly Girl, principal's pet”. I can't agree with that. In my opinion it is not right to call Ugly Girl a pet. It sounds very deprecatingly. The last time when a human was called a pet, it was a Jew. The Nazis called the Jews rats. The title of chapter 12 sounds as if Ugly Girl belongs to Mr. Parrish and she has to do everything Mr. Parrish says or as if Ugly Girl is Mr. Parrish's spy and she has to inform him what happens in school. But it is exactly the opposite of the truth. Ugly Girl doesn't want to be a spy. From my point of view, it is awkward for her to meet him. At least when she has to go to him for the second time. She says:”What a weird old guy.”(p. 91,l 3) That sounds as if she doesn't like him and as if she thinks that he is a bit strange. Furthermore, I couldn't imagine that Ugly Girl would ever “work” as a spy for him.
So what I'm trying to say is that the author should have chosen a better title for chapter 12 because this title is improperly.

Chapter 11

In chapter 11, Matt writes an email for Ursula Riggs, in which he wonders why Ursula didn't answer him in school. Finally, he doesn't send it to her. After he has thought about sending or not sending the email.
From my point of view it seems that Matt would like to get to know Ursula better because he would like to thank her so much. But it seems as if Ursula isn't interested in that or she is a bit skeptical about talking to a strange person in school.
If Matt would have sent this email to Ursula, I think she would have answered like this:
Dear Matt,
I want you to know that I've gladly helped you because for me, it is naturally to help someone, when he/she is in hot water and he/she is innocent.
I will talk to you soon, but first we have to be sure that you are out of danger. Because if e.g. Mr. Parrish sees us together, he maybe will think that I've lied about the incident and will get skeptical and he will suspend you again to be sure that you really have nothing to do with this incident. So let's wait till all is cleared up and then we can meet and talk.
See you soon
Ursula

Chapter 10

In chapter 10 Matt meets Ugly Girl in school. The day before, he has thanked her in the form of an email. But Ugly Girl doesn't react when Matt accosts her. In my opinion Ugly Girl doesn't talk to him because she isn't used to talk to people, which she doesn't really know. I think, that she is very puzzled because she hasn't talk to strange people in school and then Ugly Girl doesn't know what to do. From my point of view this affirms that Ugly Girl isn't favored at her school.
Furthermore, though Matt is favored and self-confident, he doesn't send the next email to Ugly Girl. I think, that Matt is a bit shy in this situation. So Matt and Ursula have something in common and maybe they will notice this about each other and will notice other things, which they have in common. So maybe they will get friends.

Chapter 9

In my opinion Matt behaves perplex in chapter 9. He doesn’t know what to do. His thoughts are different than before. He has got some stupid thoughts like “run away”. If he ran away, he would make his situation just worse. Because if he ran away, the police and all the other people would think that he wanted to blow up the school and no one would believe him that he was joking at that time. And if Matt disappears, it won’t last more than a day, and then his name will be shown on the TV-news. So almost all people will know Matt in the USA. Thus he won’t can hide. So run away isn’t a solution. But after he has read the email from Ugly Girl, he doesn’t think about this stupid idea anymore, but he is in good spirits. After Mr. Leacock has called him, he is looking forward to going to school and he sends Ugly Girl an email, in which he thanks Ursula for clearing the situation.
I guess that my speculation will be achieved. I think that Matt and Ursula will get friends because she helps him though she doesn’t know Matt and maybe Matt wants to thank her, by he invites her to a dinner or something like that and maybe they will get friends because of that.

Chapter 8

In chapter 8, Ugly Girl goes to Mr. Parrish for telling him that Matt didn’t want blow up the school and that the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. Ugly Girl wants to help Matt, though she doesn’t know him. She just knows that Matt goes to the same school like she does. This shows a great civil courage. She wants that Matt is innocent. And for that she even calls her friend’s mom to convince her that it is necessary that her daughter, Ugly Girl’s friend, make a statement to help Matt. Though Ugly Girl’s parents have forbidden her to go to Mr. Parrish, because this could ruin their lives. She goes to him and convinces him that Matt hasn’t been serious when he has said these terrible things. So Ugly Girl doesn’t care about her life just to help a person, which she not even knows. That shows that Ugly Girl has got an excellent social behavior. So from my point of view she deserves the civil courage prize.

Chapter 7

In chapter seven an intertextual reference appears. I mean the story of William Wilson- A case of Mistaken Identity- written by Edgar Allan Poe. The case of William Wilson is similar to Ugly Girl. Ugly Girl has got a split personality and William Wilson has got a double ganger. William Wilson is a bit evil and he is brave and self-confident. Like Ugly Girl it is. The double ganger can only whisper. Maybe the double ganger is shy and self-critical. Ursula Riggs is also shy and she isn’t happy with her body or her look.
At the end of the story of William Wilson, the double ganger disappears and there is just the real William Wilson left. So maybe Ugly Girl will abolish the “Ursula- Riggs- personality”. That means, that Ugly Girl won’t be shy anymore and the other students won’t treat her badly. Furthermore, if there is just the “Ugly- Girl- personality”, maybe Ugly Girl will find some friends and will be accepted as she is. And maybe Ugly Girl and Big Mouth will get friends, because they call each other and Ugly Girl says that she wants to help Big Mouth, by she tells the police or Mr. Parrish that Matt’s statement wasn’t meant serious. So maybe the story will have a happy-end.

Culture of fear

This post replaces chapter 6.
The „Culture of fear” appears in our book, too. In my opinion any student at Matt’s school, who informed the police, overreacts. Just because any student have heard Matt saying these things. Furthermore, Matt wasn’t serious, so if the student would have made sure that Matt is serious and angry at that moment, he/she wouldn’t have informed the police. So in this scene can be seen that there exists the culture of fear. The people get easier afraid of something, though the crime rate decreases. So if the people hear someone making a threat, they believe him/her, though it is apparently that this, what he/she says, can’t be true or serious. The people start thinking about things, which can’t happen, and a consequence could be that the people get afraid of almost all things and then they will just go shopping and won’t do other things. And this again is bad for the economy. So the culture of fear mustn’t be taken too serious, because this would have bad consequences for the future.

Chapter 5

In chapter 5 I can’t comprehend Matt’s behavior. I don’t understand why he denies that he said these things in the cafeteria. I mean that it isn’t good to lie to the police. He would have told the truth right from the start, because that he denies saying these things make the police skeptical. Furthermore the police believes the two witnesses, so they know that Matt have said these things. In his place I would have told the police that it wasn’t mean serious and that it was just a joke. I also would have declared the context, so that they can comprehend why Matt said these things.
Furthermore, during the interrogation Matt makes some jokes. In my opinion this is also stupid behavior because this shows the police that he doesn’t take the interrogation seriously and that he wants to kid the officers. So Matt’s behavior brings him in a bad situation and he has to find a way out of it.

Chapter 4

I can’t believe that the High School wasn’t evacuated at that time, when the two men ask Matt if he plans something. I guess there is a regulation that if the police supposes that a student will blow up the school and wants to kill as many people as he can that the school must be evacuated before the police go into the school and ask the suspect some questions. So this seems a bit unreal and unclear. So from my point of view the book loses a little importance because this scene doesn’t work real and believable on the reader. At least not on me.
Furthermore, I can’t believe that the teachers don’t do anything. They would have to know of the threat. I can’t imagine that there is no teacher who wouldn’t do anything. In my opinion there the author should write about that, so that it gets clear.

Chapter 3

In chapter 3 there is a situation which reminds me of song from the Bloodhound Gang-The roof is on fire. I mean the situation after she and her basketball team lost the game. She is having a shower and then she thinks:”Burn, burn!”(p.19 ll 6-7). This situation reminds me of the song in which they sing:”Burn motherfucker! Burn.” This seems to me that she wants to hurt herself because her teammates say that it is her fault that they lost the game and that she lost the game on purpose. First, Ugly Girl believes this and feels sad about it. So she wants to hurt herself like an emo. But in my opinion she isn’t a real emo because in the situation it is the first time that she wants to hurt herself. And if she was an emo, I think that she would have friends which are emos, too. Often emos are short-handed, so maybe other emos want her to be their friend.

Chapter 2

In chapter 2 it doesn’t seem to me that Ursula Riggs is bullied because in my opinion it sounds as if just Ursula doesn’t like herself. Because when Ursula thinks and talks about her body or her look, she usually talks in the first-person-narrative and she doesn’t say something like:”My classmates say that I’m ugly or …!” From my point of view Ursula Riggs isn’t self-confident at all. We have already talked about it in school that she has a split personality. When she is Ursula Riggs, she is a bit shy and close, but when she is Ugly Girl, she acts much more self-confident and when she does sport she is very active and brave.
So if she is always Ugly Girl, maybe she will be accepted by her classmates.

Chapter 1

In chapter 1 there is a situation which reminds me of something I have experienced in primary school. I mean the situation in which the two unknown men take Matt to them and want to talk to him.
I have also experienced a situation like this. I was in fourth grade when one day a woman came into our class and wanted to talk to me. I was afraid because I have never seen this woman before. So I stood up and went out of our classroom. In front of the door the woman told me, that she is a teacher and she just wants to tell me that I won the first price at a pointing competition. When I heard this I was eased and I was happy.