Please Stop Laughing at Me
Jodee Blanco
Summary
In the book, Please Stop Laughing at Me..., Jodee Blanco's experience of school changes her life forever. Jodee is a person who always stands up for the underdog, because she is one herself. People tease, bully and physically hurt her when she does the right thing, because they think that she is not cool. She constantly changes schools but she is treated the same no matter where she goes. Although all of these bad things happen to her, she doesn't like to tell anyone because she fears that the popular people will hate her even more. Jodee expressed herself by saying, "What a desperate , pathetic fool I was. Time after time, my "friends" had shown me their true colors. Yet, I still wanted to believe they were sorry for causing me pain." (Pg, 128, Blanco.) She lives her life wishing that she would fit in. At then end of the book, Jodee has a great job and she has published a book of her own that she should be very proud of. Even though her high school popularity didn't effect her as an adult, she is still afraid of the people who hurt her so long ago.
Character Analysis
Jodee Blanco is a girl who always sticks up for the underdog, even though she gets teased for it. She has brown wavy hair and she will do anything to be one of the popular people. She likes to participate in different clubs like speech, drama, and science fairs. Her only friends are the mentally challenged kids and other outcasts. On top of that, Jodee has a deformity in her chest that she is also teased about and she eventually has to get surgery to fix her problem. Jodee is constantly bullied but she tells nobody about it because she is afraid that her peers will cause her more harm. Jodee once told the nurse, "Please, I can't be a tattle-tail again. Let me handle this my own way," (Pg. 68 Blanco.) Jodee's parents raised her to always be the bigger person, and to fight back with kindness. She usually can't stick up for herself and the bullies just keep hurting her more. Jodee often seeks revenge on her peers, but she is determined to push herself through high school, because everything will be different in college.
Conflict/Resolution
Character Vs. Self: A conflict that Jodee had to deal with while in high School was the deformity of her chest. People made fun of her for how she looked so she would often try to hide it. Jodee came up with a solution in which she explained, "I'll undress really fast and get in and out of the shower before anyone sees me," (Pg. 195, Blanco.) This worked for a while until her peers found out. She resolved this problem by getting surgery when she was 17 to make her look "normal."
Character Vs. Character: The Character vs. Character conflict that Jodee had to face was when she would get bullied by individual popular people that she may have been friends with before. For example, Jodee was great friends with Callie, but when Jodee tattled on her about her inappropriate party, Callie never talked to her again and made everyone else in the school hate her, and beat her up. Jodee resolved this problem by moving schools and trying to ignore them the best that she could so that she could just focas on her school work. At Jodee's reunion, her classmates told her, "We never hated you. We just didn't understand you. You were always so willing to take a stand and it made us uncomfortable," (Pg. 255, Blanco.)
Character Vs. society: Jodee also had conflict with society because everyone would make fun of her for hanging out with the mentally challenged, and when she did the right thing. Jodee once said, "Every day , it was the same routine. The kids either ignored me or taunted me, snickering behind my back, " (Pg. 64, Blanco.) She even volunteered to help out with them everyday. Jodee resolved her problem by standing up for what she believed in and not letting who and who not to hang out with.
Theme
Textual Evidence
Another part that stuck out to me in this book was when
Jodee got accepted into a two week college for her entry of poetry. She learns about other people's problems there, and that she is not that different from them. That part of the book really made me realize that we all go through the same problems and that we shouldn't resent who we are, or be quick to judge others.
Book Review
Citations
Blanco, Jodee, and Jodee Blanco. Please Stop Laughing at Me: One Woman's Inspirational Story. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2003. Print.
Creative Well. Jodee Blanco. Digital image. Creative Well. Creative Well, n.d. Web. 11 May 2016.
Flick, Jenna. Please Stop Laughing at Me... Digital image. Weebly. Weebly, n.d. Web. 9 May 2016.
Flick, Jenna. Please Stop Laughing at Me... Digital image. Weebly. Weebly, n.d. Web. 9 May 2016.
Flick, Jenna. "Summary:." Please Stop Laughing at Me... Weebly, n.d. Web. 9 May 2016.
Good Reads. "Jodee Blanco Quotes." Jodee Blanco Quotes (Author of Please Stop Laughing at Me... One Woman's Inspirational Story). Good Reads, 2016. Web. 12 May 2016.
Katelyn. Percentage of Bullying. Digital image. What Katelyn Teaches. Katelyn, n.d. Web. 12 May 2016.
Ways to Stop Bullying. Stop Bullying. N.p., 2 Oct. 2014. Web. 12 May 2016.