R. J. Palacio’s “Wonder” tells the story of August ‘Auggie’ Pullman, a boy with a craniofacial deformity that kept him from school, getting to attend school for the first time. It deals with issues such as kindness, empathy, self-acceptance, and discrimination against people with disabilities.
“Wonder“ is told from the first-person perspective of several of the book’s characters. It is divided into eight parts, each named after the character from whose viewpoint the section is narrated.
Part One: August
The story opens with the protagonist August’s self-introduction: he presents himself as an ordinary ten-year-old kid others see as extraordinary. He is starting school for the first time and is scared at the prospect. He had never gone to school before and had been homeschooled because he had been in and out of hospitals to get reconstructive surgeries done on his face. He has Treacher-Collins Syndrome, which affected the development of his facial features. His appearance sets people off, which is one reason he is apprehensive about starting school, as he worries his schoolmates will discriminate against him because of his looks.
I wonder why Palacio writes about an extreme case of Treacher-Collins Syndrome, which is already rare, to teach about acceptance and kindness. August would have been a more relatable and believable character if his illness had not been as severe.
August’s parents and Mr. Tushman, the principal, organize a school visit to give August a feel for his new school. Three of his would-be classmates—Jack Will, Charlotte, and Julian—take August on a school tour.
The story’s rising action starts on August’s first day of school. He is nervous. The new classmates avoid sitting close to him, but Jack Will takes the initiative and sits beside him. They introduce themselves, and Julian makes subtle mean remarks about his face in a way that the teacher does not notice, and it is evident to August that he is deliberately unpleasant. In English class, their teacher invites them to think about precepts and fundamental general rules about life and take note of a precept every month. The first precept is about kindness.
At lunch, everyone avoids his table except a girl named Summer, and they become friends. However, for the rest of September, he has difficulty adjusting to the stares he is getting from his schoolmates and how they are avoiding him. Julian is particularly mean to Auggie and often taunts him. This general situation shapes the story’s central conflict. However, Auggie is happy about his friendships with Jack, Will, and Summer.
A key point occurs during the school Halloween party. In disguise, Auggie overhears Jack Will telling Julian and a group of boys that he is friends with August only because Mr. Tushman asked him. This hurts him deeply, and he calls in sick at the school clinic, and his mother comes to take him home. He does not return to school for the rest of the week.
This was a strong moment for August, and I felt deeply for him. Even though we sometimes express thoughts we would not say in the presence of some people, a hurtful statement still has the potential to hurt. A knife is only completely safe when sheathed.
Part Two: Via
The story switches to Via’s point of view, and she narrates how August’s special conditions make everyone in their home revolve around him to attend to his needs. Still, she believes the situation is changing slightly.
Via describes August’s deformity and the difficulties they cause him and the family. Because of his health, he needs much attention from his parents and Via. Because of this, her parents often ignore Via, but she understands and tries not to make an issue out of it.
As August begins middle school, Via starts at a new high school, and she is glad at the opportunity to create a new life as Olivia and not Via, Auggie’s brother. She meets Ella and Miranda, her close friends from middle school who also knew Auggie, and she thinks they have become cool towards her. She decides to separate herself from her old friends.
While Via is going through her changes at school, she is somewhat miffed that her mother, occupied with Auggie’s problems, has no time for her, but she holds her peace as she is wont to. Meanwhile, Miranda and Ella make new friends in school, and Via goes on to make her friends.
It did not make sense to me how Via, Miranda, and Ella grew apart if they had been such good friends. They could have sorted out their issues if they only had one frank talk and expressed how they felt about each other.
Via notices that Auggie does not go trick-or-treating that Halloween, and when she prods him, he tells her about Jack Will’s betrayal. Via sympathizes with him but assures him that he cannot feign sickness forever and will have to return to school sometime. She convinces August to return to school but ignores Jack Will.
Part Three: Summer
This part features the narrative picked up from Summer’s viewpoint, a key point because Summer declares her friendship with August unequivocally here. Her classmates wonder why she is friends with August, who they think of as a freak. Summer believes she initially approaches him out of pity but likes him. She is angry at her classmates for avoiding August.
The popular kids invite her to a Halloween party. Savanna, the host, suggests that Julian wants to befriend her. The cool kids would like her to join their group, but on the condition that she stop hanging out with August, whom they call Zombie Kid. Summer is offended by this suggestion and makes an excuse to leave the party early.
Summer approaches August at school to discuss working with him on a class project, but she finds August withdrawn and rude. August wonders aloud whether she is his friend because Principal Tushman asked her, just like he requested Jack Will. August’s accusation offends Summer, and he apologizes for suspecting her motives. He then reveals to her what Jack Will said on Halloween.
I understand why August suspects Summer of pretending to be his friend. A mixture of naivety, hurt innocence, and insecurity makes him question whether anyone would genuinely want to befriend him for his own sake. After Jack’s betrayal, I respect him for remaining friends with Summer.
Summer and August collaborate on their class project and get to know each other better. At the school’s project presentation, Jack meets Summer and asks her why August no longer speaks with him. Because August swore her to secrecy, she could not tell him directly, so she gave him a hint.
Part Four: Jack
When the story switches to Jack, the reader is shown events before August begins school at Beecher Prep.
Jack Will’s mother receives a call from Principal Tushman asking that Jack Will be part of a student welcoming committee for a deformed new student. Jack Will initially refuses. He has seen August before and wants to avoid him. He finally changes his mind and agrees because he feels sympathetic to August. Knowing how mean people can be, he decides to be kind to him instead.
He finds August exciting and fun, and they become genuine friends. So, when August suddenly stops talking to him, he is surprised.
In the story, even after his betrayal, Jack comes across as a good kid with a solid personality, even when he falters. His character is noble.
He initially does not understand Summer’s hint and thinks she is toying with him. The class is assigned a science fair project, and Jack Will wishes he was still friends with August, who is very good at science. He suddenly understands Summer’s clue and realizes that August overheard him talking badly about him to Julian and his friends.
At the moment of realization, Jack is abjectly sorry he said such mean things about August and feels terrible about his actions. At the same time, the science teacher, Ms. Rubin, groups the class into pairs for the project and couples Jack Will and August. Julian approaches and asks Jack Will to dump August, whom he calls ‘freak’, and become partners with him instead. This makes Jack Will so furious that he punches Julian.
Jack Will gets detention and threatened with expulsion. He is only suspended and has to write Julian an apology. Jack Will also writes August, asking for forgiveness, and they mend their friendship in an email exchange.
However, back at school, Jack Will finds he has become a pariah. Former friends will not talk to him. He discovers from a classmate, Charlotte, that Julian has turned the whole class against him for befriending August. They will not even sit with him at the lunch table. Sides are drawn, and only a few classmates take August’s side, while some are neutral, and others side with Julian.
For someone who likes keeping a low profile, August stirred up a furor in his time at school!
While the effects of Jack’s actions appear later, this marks the story’s turning point because August’s self-confidence grows, and he attracts only genuine friends.
Part Five: Justin
Justin, Via’s boyfriend, describes meeting Auggie and Jack Will and hiding his shock at Auggie’s appearance. They are interested in him, his violin, and his zydeco band. When he is alone with Via, she asks him whether he is freaked out, and he denies it. Eventually, he meets Via’s parents and is warmed by their interest in him and his music, an attention different from what he gets from his divorced parents. They return to Pullman’s and find the family dog, Daisy, who is very sick.
Justin and Via are preparing for a school play. Justin and Miranda have the lead roles, and Via is only an understudy for Miranda. Via helps Justin prepare for his role at her home. On his way home, he notices Julian and his friends being mean to Jack Will and scares them off.
Part Six: August
August and Jack still face discrimination in school, and Julian’s group leaves mean notes in their lockers. However, the antagonism gradually decreases, and August’s classmates start becoming friendly with him. August also gets a hearing aid that improves his hearing.
When August’s mother finds out about Via’s school play, which she had kept secret, she is angry. August believes Via is trying to keep him a secret from her new school life, and they have a row over this. Via reprimands August for trying to make everything about him. That day, Daisy becomes so sick that she has to be euthanized, and the family reconciles over the tragedy.
I think August has a point in questioning why Via saw it necessary to hide that she will be performing in a school play. It is the sort of affair people share with family, hoping they attend and applaud them on stage. Via’s defense does not address his concern but becomes a counter-accusation.
Via brings tickets to the play, and August and his parents attend, hoping to see Miranda and Justin. However, Miranda calls in sick at the last moment, and Justin and Via play the lead roles. Miranda meets August, and they are happy to see each other again.
Part Seven: Miranda
In another change of perspective, Miranda takes up the story from her days at camp before high school. Following her parent’s divorce, her father moves in with another woman, and her mother becomes distant. When she goes away to camp, she hates it but passes her time by making things up to tell her campmates, including having a deformed brother.
When she returns to school, she is disappointed that Via never asks about her parents’ divorce. She grows closer to Ella and separates from Via.
Through the beginning of high school, she notices Via and her new boyfriend, Justin. Miranda even signs up for a play because she sees Via is participating, and she gets a lead role with Justin.
I did not think Miranda had any reason to give up her place for Via. It was self-sacrificing, but Via did not deserve the sacrifice. It feels as if Miranda, whose parents were distant, was bribing Via to regain entry into the warm and loving sphere of the Pullman family.
She misses the Pullmans because she had always found them a welcoming and loving family, and she pays a visit, meeting August.
She gives up acting in the play because she has no family to watch her and feels Via deserves to play the lead. After the show, Miranda meets up with the Pullmans and Justin, and they invite her to have dinner with them.
Part Eight: August
Beecher Prep fifth graders go for an annual camping event for three days, and August is excited but a little awed because he’s never been to camp or even a sleepover. They had many fun activities in the camp. The story’s climax occurs during an incident in the camp. The kids are at an outdoor movie one night, and Jack feels pressed, and August escorts him to the toilet. They meet a long line, and Jack relieves himself in the woods. On their return, they meet a group of middle schoolers from another school who make fun of August. Jack and August defend themselves, and other Beecher Prep boys join in and rescue August.
Even though he loses his hearing aid in the melee, August wins the respect of his classmates when they hear how he handled himself in the fight. His mother comes to take him home early. In the novel’s falling action, his classmates embellish and spread the fight story across the school. The aftermath of the incident is that he is accepted by his classmates and other Beecher Prep schoolmates. Everyone in his class, except Julian, becomes friendly towards him.
August’s acceptance by the whole school feels rushed by the author to give readers a pleasant resolution. I think it is unnatural and rings false. I prefer an ending where August has a few true friends to one where he becomes a minor school celebrity.
In the story’s resolution, August receives the Henry Beecher Award at the school’s graduation ceremony for his character, courage, and kindness.
