Chapter 13-15

In chapter 13 Matt resigns his vise presidency of the junior class. He cuts all his conections to others, this is going to end up in isolation.

After a argument about a article, Matt wanted to be published, he resigns from the school magazin.
Now he is acting like a blind bull, not thinking about something just doing it. He also gets invited from a friend but he isn't interesting in getting together with them.

In chapter 15 Matt again tries to e-mail Ursula what he is thinking and feeling. I start asking myself, how this is going to end up. He should go and visit a psychologist, he can talk to.

Chapter 10-12

In chapter 10 Ursula avoids contact with Matt, she even uses a different stairway. Here you can see that Ursula's behaviour differs a lot from what she is trying to be like or what everyone think she is like.From the outside she seems to be the warrior-woman type but from the inside she is a immature little shy girl. Like everyone thought Tiger Woods was a loyal caring husband.

Chapter 11 is about Matt trying to clear up the situation with Ursula by e-mailing her. But he in the end deleted the e-mail he had written. I think it was the right decision, when you think about the situation the e-mail would have brought Ursula in to. I mean what do you want to answer to this e-mail, it would have made the situation even more worse.

In chapter 12 the principal talks to Ursula, to thank her for her civil courage. Ursula also talks to one of her former teammates, both conversations seems to be very embarssing for Ursula.

Chapter 7-9

Chapter 7 is about Matt discovering that his so called friends aren't supporting him any longer.The only e-mail he gets, is from Ursula, he first thinks that it has to be a joke because he wasn't in contact with Ursula before. But he finally called her and she assures him that she is going to help him out by witnessing to Mr.Parish that it was a mistake.
In chapter 8 Ursula tells the principal what happened in the cafeteria that day.
In chapter 9 he gets an e-mail from 3 of his friends, in which they all say, that they couldn't hold contact with him because their parents forbade them to do so. At the end of the chapter Matt gets finally "dissuspended" from school.
Without Ursula's commitment Matt wouldn't be able to go back to school that soon. It was very brave from her to help him out of this situation. I was thinking about whether I would have helped him out by witnessing.

Chapter 4-6

Chapter 4-6 is about Matt's interview with the detectives and his feelings during the interrogation. Other topics are the rumours about Matt's arrest, Ursula quitting the basketball-team and her contacting Matt.
The chapter about the interrogation of Matt kind of follows a lot of stereotypes about police work. But I think a author has to put exaggerated elements into the story, otherwise it's difficult to create the same emotions in the readers' mind like them in the author's mind.

What's to say about rumour I think these words descripes it very well:

Exactly what is rumor, and how does it differ from gossip? Even though these terms are commonly used interchangeably, they differ greatly in function and content. While gossip is evaluative social talk that provides social network formation and group solidarity, rumor functions to make sense of an ambiguous situation or to help people adapt to perceived or actual threats. Why do people spread and believe rumors? Rumors are an enduring feature of our social and organizational landscapes. They attract attention, evoke emotion, incite involvement, affect attitudes and actions—and they are ubiquitous. Rumor transmission is motivated by three broad psychological motivations—fact-finding, relationship-enhancement, and self-enhancement—all of which help individuals and groups make sense in the face of uncertainty.

source: http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/10/the_psychology_of_ru.html


Ursula's contacting of Matt first surprised me, but then after I thought about it for a while, it seemed to fit to my experiences with first impressions about someone. Often the first impression of someone is the totally opposite of what the person is like.

Chapter 1-3

In the first chapter we meet Matt whose nickname (big mouth) is the eponym for the book title, he is one of the main characters in the story. Matt is a student on Rocky River Highschool, he is described as brainy, a perfectionist and a comic character. While he talks with his friends about their drama project, two detective come in to arrest him. The first thing that comes to his mind is that something worse had happened with his family. But you don't get to know the reason for the arrest in the first chapter. I actually think that this hook is a brilliant way to cover the time till you get absorbed by the story.
The second chapter is structured like the first one, it introduces Ursula Riggs called "Ugly Girl" the second main character of the story. She is described as an very good athlete esspecially in soccer, field hockey and basketball. She is the captain of the girls' basketball team and their best player(maybe because she is so tall). Ursula behaves like a guy and also thinks like one, she misprizes the other girls and their behaviour.
The main content of the chapter is a important basketball game of Ursula's team which they lost against their archrival.Ursula and her teammates think they lost it because of Ursula's failures.
In the third chapter Ursula gets first confronted with the arrest of Matt and the accusions against him. But Ursula doesn't think that the rumour is true.
The arrest of Matt shows that the authorities are too stupid to understand that they are ruining the life of someone, I mean that's the worst thing that can happen to you. A lot of people say that everthing is going to be forgotten someday but that's not true. Matt is going to have a reputation as acriminal forever.
Ursula is the perfect boy, her thoughts are so unfeminine, esspecially the "warrior woman" thing, that she seems to be born into the wrong body. It would be interesting to know the reason for her behaviour , Freud would have had fun analysing her thoughts.

Introduction

This blog deals with the book "big mouth and ugly girl" written by Joyce Carol Oates. The story is like the life itself very multilayer, but if I would have to pick a central topic it would be friendship and love.
Another important topic is the society and especially the suburban society. The author gives you a behind the scene look on the life of teenagers who should be without worries. A rich family which offers them every educational oppurtunity and the growing up in a sheltered neighborhood seems not to be the key for a happy childhood at all. These childrens have a lot of problems although they might differ from problems of poor children.
All in all I think the felicitous mixture between a lovestory and a social study makes the book absorbing.
On the following sides I'm going to give you a little overview of what happened in the story, mixed up with my personal reactions and upcoming questions while reading.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog.