Walk Two Moons
By: Sharon Creech
Summary
Salamonca Tree Hiddle has just moved to Euclid, Ohio with her father. They have left everything behind from their farm in Bybanks, Kentucky to start new. To cheer Sal up her grandparents take her on a life-changing journey to find her mother in Lewiston, Idaho. During the the trip Sal tells a truly amazing story about her new best friend Phoebe which keeps her grandparents on edge throughout the story.
Judgments: Thesis Sentence
Characters in the novel misjudge three character because they fail to " Walk two moons in their moccasins"; these misjudgments are later proven wrong.
Mrs. Cadaver
Mrs. Cadaver, Phoebe's neighbor, is judged by Sal and Phoebe because they don't know her. Sal and Phoebe have seen Mrs. Cadaver chopping up her yard and moving heavy objects easily which lead them to believe she has chopped up her husband and buried him in her yard. "I think she killed Mr. Cadaver and chopped him up and buried him in the backyard." (Page 32) Phoebe has just told Sal that she believes Mrs. Cadaver killed her husband based on evidence of seeing her haul heavy objects across her yard. These judgments are incorrect because later Mr. Birkway tells Sal and Phoebe the truth about Mr. Cadaver and that he died in a car crash with a drunk driver. (Page 218) Sal continues to judge Mrs. Cadaver because she believes she is in love with her father and Sal does not want them to be together. "Do you love him? Are you going to marry him?" (Page 271) Sal judges her as being in love with her father and is taking him away and changing him. This judgement is not true because Sal's father is staying with Mrs. Cadaver because she was with Sal's mother in her final moments in life. (Page 271)
Mike Bickle
Mike Bickle a.k.a the lunatic is judged throughout the story by Sal and Phoebe for reasons of paranoia. Sal and Phoebe believe Mike Bickle is a lunatic because they see him multiple times throughout the story. They also believe he is leaving strange notes at Phoebe's door which later leads Phoebe to think Mike Bickle had something to do with Mrs. Winterbottom's disappearance. "Sal, do you detect any signs of lunacy?" (Page 43) The suspected lunatic has just showed up at Phoebe's house and they see him for the first time. Because Phoebe is very paranoid she immediately thinks he is a lunatic capable of murdering them. They continue to see him and it makes Phoebe and Sal believe more and more he is crazy and a lunatic. Sal and Phoebe have just out that Mike Bickle is Sergeant Bickle's son. They track him down and find he is attending a local university where Sal and Phoebe see Mrs. Winterbottom kissing him on a bench. "On the bench was Phoebe's mother, and she was kissing the lunatic." After seeing this Sal and Phoebe begin to think Mrs. Winterbottom is in love with Mike Bickle and that is why she has left them. Both of these judgments are proved wrong and the truth is revealed that Mike Bickle is Mrs. Winterbottom's son. Because of this it makes sense that he showed up at the door asking to see Mrs. Winterbottom and why Mrs. Winterbottom was kissing him on the bench. (Page 248)
Mrs. Winterbottom
Mrs. Winterbottom is judged by Sal and others because she is seen looking very sad multiple times. Sal and Phoebe get home to Phoebe's house to see Mrs. Winterbottom crying and when they tell her about the "potential lunatic" she is very strange about and chooses to not tell Mr. Winterbottom about it. "When we got back to Phoebe's house, her mother was lying on the couch, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue." Sal then goes on to later judge Mrs. Winterbottom about her being sad but she doesn't know why she is sad. When Mrs. Winterbottom is found on the bench with the lunatic she is judged again by Phoebe and Sal and later by Mr. Winterbottom when she shows up at the house with the lunatic. "Mr Winterbottom said, 'Norma, I hope you are going to explain exactly what is going on her'." (Page 246) Mr. Winterbottom judges Mrs. Winterbottom and Mike Bickle when he sees them both because he believes Mrs. Winterbottom dating Mike Bickle even though that was not the truth. The truth about both of the judgements are revealed when Mrs. Winterbottom tells everyone that Mike is her son, which explains why she was sad for all that time and why she had left Phoebe and her family. (Page 248)
Conclusion
Three main characters are judged throughout the story without actual evidence of why they should be judged. Sometimes it is because of looks or behavior and other times it is because of their own thought or paranoia about them. Mrs. Cadaver, Mrs. Winterbottom, and Mike Bickle all have one thing in common and that is that they are judged before the character judging them truly knows their story. The truths about these characters are only fully revealed in the end.