Matt Donaghy and Ursula Riggs’ development in big mouth & ugly girl
In an Interview by “Bookselling This Week” with Joyce Carol Oates in 2002 she states to have worked with adolescents for many years. Through that she became aware of how quick they can change; according to her, adults, on the contrary, don't have this characteristic.
These experiences and observations come to light in her book “big mouth & ugly girl – know who your friends are”.
This willingness to change can be found in both Matt and Ursula, the main characters of her book.
We get to know Matt as a rather popular high school guy with good grades who cares about image and being likable. He writes plays for the school’s drama club, works for the school’s newspaper and is involved …show more content…
Ignoring Matt after standing up for him, she backs down again because she is too shy and doesn’t want to consider him a friend. Though Ursula is self-proclaimed Ugly Girl and never backs down, usually it’s the other way round; people make sure to stay away and avoid eye contact.
After Oates’ protagonists both make first negative developments Ursula makes her way back up when she stumbles into an art exhibit in Manhattan after leaving a ballet performance she was supposed to watch with her mom and sister. Ursula leaves the display feeling inspired again.
While Ursula finds her way back to her sketch pad Matt is forced to see a therapist because of his behavior and he starts hiking more frequently.
Due to threats from neighbors, his emotionally unstable mom and being beat up and ostracized for a lawsuit his parents filed against the entire school district, Matt starts spiraling into depression.
While hiking through the nature preserve he ends up standing on the edge of a cliff. Ursula, also hiking in the preserve, finds him there and gets him to come back down to …show more content…
When Matt first gets escorted out of class and into the principals’ office he thinks it’s all a huge prank and jokes around. Later in the book there is another bomb threat, again officers come to Matt. This time he takes it more seriously and gets defensive immediately, having learned not to try and be funny when accused by the police. He rejoins the school newspaper, gets a column published in The New York Times and the thing that caused all the trouble in the first place, his play “William Wilson” will be performed in the spring festival, rewritten by Matt to be more mature.
Last but not least the biggest development was their friendship and later relationship. In the beginning, they barely know each other, Matt being popular and Ursula well known but feared instead of popular. When Matt becomes popular again he gets invited to parties, but now instead of just going with his friends he asks to bring Ursula, if she can't come, then neither will he, despite what people think. This along with his other developments shows that he has achieved his goal of being an anarchist just like Ursula.
They meet as Big Mouth and Ugly
In an Interview by “Bookselling This Week” with Joyce Carol Oates in 2002 she states to have worked with adolescents for many years. Through that she became aware of how quick they can change; according to her, adults, on the contrary, don't have this characteristic.
These experiences and observations come to light in her book “big mouth & ugly girl – know who your friends are”.
This willingness to change can be found in both Matt and Ursula, the main characters of her book.
We get to know Matt as a rather popular high school guy with good grades who cares about image and being likable. He writes plays for the school’s drama club, works for the school’s newspaper and is involved …show more content…
Ignoring Matt after standing up for him, she backs down again because she is too shy and doesn’t want to consider him a friend. Though Ursula is self-proclaimed Ugly Girl and never backs down, usually it’s the other way round; people make sure to stay away and avoid eye contact.
After Oates’ protagonists both make first negative developments Ursula makes her way back up when she stumbles into an art exhibit in Manhattan after leaving a ballet performance she was supposed to watch with her mom and sister. Ursula leaves the display feeling inspired again.
While Ursula finds her way back to her sketch pad Matt is forced to see a therapist because of his behavior and he starts hiking more frequently.
Due to threats from neighbors, his emotionally unstable mom and being beat up and ostracized for a lawsuit his parents filed against the entire school district, Matt starts spiraling into depression.
While hiking through the nature preserve he ends up standing on the edge of a cliff. Ursula, also hiking in the preserve, finds him there and gets him to come back down to …show more content…
When Matt first gets escorted out of class and into the principals’ office he thinks it’s all a huge prank and jokes around. Later in the book there is another bomb threat, again officers come to Matt. This time he takes it more seriously and gets defensive immediately, having learned not to try and be funny when accused by the police. He rejoins the school newspaper, gets a column published in The New York Times and the thing that caused all the trouble in the first place, his play “William Wilson” will be performed in the spring festival, rewritten by Matt to be more mature.
Last but not least the biggest development was their friendship and later relationship. In the beginning, they barely know each other, Matt being popular and Ursula well known but feared instead of popular. When Matt becomes popular again he gets invited to parties, but now instead of just going with his friends he asks to bring Ursula, if she can't come, then neither will he, despite what people think. This along with his other developments shows that he has achieved his goal of being an anarchist just like Ursula.
They meet as Big Mouth and Ugly