Content Warning: This section includes discussion of racial discrimination, ableism, pet death, and grief.

“I know they love me like crazy, but I’m short and they aren’t. Until that moment I didn’t realize my size was a problem for them.”

Julia opens the novel describing the moment when she first learned that her height was a “problem,” or unusual. This introduces the concept of physical discrimination, sets up one of Julia’s internal conflicts, and shows how societal expectations harm a person’s self-esteem.

“One thing I’ve decided is that life is just one big, long struggle to find applause. Even when people die, they are hoping someone writes a list of accomplishments about them.”

As part of Processing Grief, Julia often thinks about legacy and what is remembered after a person dies or an experience ends. At the start of the novel, she’s preoccupied with accomplishments as a measure of worth, so she often thinks about how she measures up in relation to others. This is a belief that the events of the novel will challenge.

“My goals for this summer, if I had goals, would be to not worry about my height and also to find new ways to be happy now that Ramon is gone.”

This line shows how Julia perceives herself to be unmotivated and listless, characteristics that her participation in the play will directly challenge. This line also presents Julia’s two internal conflicts—her height and her grief over Ramon—which will be central to the novel.