Some people are born with deformities and disabilities, but does that
mean you should treat them differently? In the book Wonder by R.J.
Palacio Auggie starts going to school. Auggie is very nervous because he’s
afraid everyone will tease him. Some
people might think that it’s just a story about some kid with facial
deformities. But I think it’s much more
than that. I think when R.J. Palacio
wrote Wonder, she wanted the reader to infer an important message. I
think that Wonder teaches us that you should accept everyone no matter what.
In the beginning of the Jack Chapter, he expresses how much he doesn't
want to tour Auggie. One day his mom
gets a call from Mr. Tushman. Mr.
Tushman was calling to see if Jack could give the new kid a tour of the
school. He’s pretty open to it until his
mom says “’I guess there’s something wrong with his face’”. "'If I
don't have to do it,' I said, 'I don't want to do it.'". He tells
his mom how Auggie is "deformed" and how he can't do it. But
then he realizes how sympathetic he is that Auggie has to deal with bullies
like Julian Albans and decides to give it a try. Little did he know that
they would end up as best friends. Jack starts hanging out with Auggie
all the times. This shows Jack accepting Auggie even though he has a
deformity.
Summer is a really nice person, so she decides to sit with Auggie during
lunch on the first day of school. She doesn't really mind Auggie's face,
but people tease her about how she hangs out with the "Zombie Kid".
Since Auggie found out that Mr. Tushman asked some people to be nice to
him, he sort of doubts that Summer is Really his friend. Then he finds
out that she is a true friend. Summer
didn’t care how he looked, she looked deeper and found that he was actually a
nice person. This shows acceptance
because Summer sees Auggie as a friend not someone with a deformity.
For some people, it takes a while before they'll show acceptance.
An example is Amos. He isn't Auggie's friend in the beginning of
the story but in the end, he accepts Auggie as a friend. Amos used to be
a cool kid who didn't associate with people like Auggie because he's too cool.
But then when Auggie is being bullied by older kids at the Nature
Reserve, he steps out and shows that he's a real friend. “’Just leave them alone, dude’ Amos repeated
calmly.” After that incident Amos starts
being really nice and finally accepts Auggie as a good friend.
As we look at acceptance, we can see that it helps us make more friends
and meet more people. If we look deep into someone, we can always find a
reason to accept them as a friend. I think without acceptance you would
always live in your own bubble that is isolated from everyone else. For me, acceptance is the key to making
friends because you’ll never turn down a friend. If we learn to accept
everyone as a friend, the world would become a more peaceful place
