A theme found in Priscilla and the Wimps by Richard Peck is that some people act proudly in front of people who are weaker than them. This is shown by the writer with characterization, language feature, and the description of heights.
Firstly, people usually literally show their pride in front of others who are weaker. This can be shown by a direct characterization of Monk Klutter with descriptions of his appearances. In the text, Monk was the leader of a gang and had the power to took control of lots of people in the school. He usually wore “a pile-lined suede battle jacket with lizard-skin flaps over tailored Levi’s and a pair of ostrich-skin boots”. These unusual outfits were obviously not suitable for school. This demonstrates the fact that Monk wanted to make himself different from the others and “the-special-one”, emphasizing the idea that he show-off to all the others. The writer shows that people show their pride in front of others who are weaker by characterization.
Secondly, more powerful people sometimes tend to remind others of their powerfulness by hurting and this is illustrated by the writer’s language feature of the rule of thirds. Every student in the school had scars on their body: “lumps, lacerations, [and] blue bruises”. The rule of thirds is used here, describing different kinds of scars students usually got from Monk. This creates a rhythm, a pattern, which shows in a catchy way that onk, in order to remind the students how powerful he was, menace them by hurting to buy tickets and reflects indirectly that Monk and his gang was brutal treating the students. The idea that more powerful people sometimes tend to remind others of their powerfulness by hurting is explored by the writer’s language feature.
Thirdly, a person shrinks mentally when he meets a more powerful person. This is shown by the descriptions of heights. When the writer, a normal student in the school met the gang led by Monk, [with or without Monk [he] shrank.” His feeling of shrinking suggest his fear towards Monk and his gang, labeling them as a powerful person and thus felt himself smaller. In addition, when Monk met the big Priscilla, who was stronger in her physical strength, he was pushed into the locker and made “a perfect fit”. This comparison between Monk and the locker implies that Monk looked short when facing Priscilla. Perhaps Monk was not short, but his fear made him look short. The powerfulness of Monk in the outset of the text and his small size at the end shows Monk’s mental shrink before and after he met a more powerful person. The writer shows that a person shrinks mentally when he meets a more powerful person by descriptions of heights.
In conclusion, a theme found in Priscilla and the Wimps by Richard Peck is that some people act proudly in front of people who are weaker than them. This is shown by the writer with characterization, language feature, and the description of heights.
//I did not have time to revise it on class, and it seems that I have got lots of themes that are not linked together :-(
