Walk Two Moons
By: Suzane Collins
Judgements
Thesis
Mike "The Lunatic" Bikle
Mike Bikle is judged as a lunatic for his "nervous appearance" and "strange stalking". For example, on pages 63 and 64, it says, "I nudged Phoebe. "Oh no," she said. "The lunatic." or on page 43-45 it says, "Sal, do you detect lunacy?". For a long time in this novel, Mike is feared and accused by Phoebe and Sal for murdering of Mrs. Winterbottom (Phoebe's mom) and for just being a run away lunatic. But, Mike turns out to be Sgt. Bikle's adopted son and Mrs. Winterbottom's actual son. This is proven on page 248 where it says, "Mike is my son." and on page 204 where it says, "I recognized the son. It was the lunatic.". This shows that Mike was judged before they really got to know him by Sal and Phoebe.
Mrs. Winterbottom "The Kidnapped Mom"
Mrs. Cadaver "The Murderer"
Conclusion
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech is a book about friendships and judgments between two girls and strange neighbors and strangers they meet. Thirteen year old Salamanca Tree Hiddle has faced many great and sad challenges. She decides to go with her grandparents on a road trip across the country and tells them the story of a girl named Phoebe and the many judgments made against three people: Mike, Mrs. Winterbottom, and Mrs. Cadaver. Characters in the novel misjudge three characters because they fail to "walk two moons in their moccasins"; these misjudgments are later proven wrong. If the judgments had never been made in the beginning, then the reader would have never known who the people truly were on the inside and the story would have been at least a hundred pages shorter.