Jack

Reading Comprehension

Answer the following questions in PEE.

1. What are the reasons that Jack changed his mind about hanging out with Auggie? How does Jack see
Auggie? (“Why I Changed my Mind” and “Four Things”)
Jack changes his mind about giving Auggie a school tour. He describes that “ It wasn't so I wouldn't have to
hear Mom give me a whole lecture.” He also says that “Jamie talking about how he had run away from
August going 'Ahhh,' I suddenly felt really bad.”.This shows that Jack doesn’t like hearing his mom’s lecture
and when he heard Jamie talking about Auggie like that he felt bad, so Jack decided to change his mind.

Jack sees Auggie as four things. He classifies it as “he's actually a really cool dude. I mean, he's pretty funny.
Like, the teacher will say something and August will whisper something funny to me that no one else hears
and totally make me crack up.” “He's really smart. I thought he'd be behind everyone because he hadn't
gone to school before. But in most things he's way ahead of me.” “Like, if all the guys in the fifth grade
were lined up against a wall and I got to choose anyone I wanted to hang out with, I would choose August.”
These are the four things that Jack sees Auggie as . For him being cool and funny is when Auggie makes
funny jokes and whispers it to Jack, it makes him crack up.Now for him being smart he is saying that he is
ahead of me in most of the things. For him being a good friend it Jack says that he could tell Auggie
anything and would choose him out of the class boys.

2. Why does Jack try to remember what Veronica said, “sometimes you don’t have to be mean to hurt
someone,” whenever he sees Auggie in the neighborhood? What does Veronica mean by this? (“Carvel”)
Jack tries to remember what Veronica said , “Sometimes you don’t have to be mean to hurt someone,”
whenever he sees Auggie in the neighborhood. Veronica meant that "It was bad how we did that," she
said. "Just getting up like that, like we'd just seen the devil.”She also said that “ Every day we should thank
the Lord for our blessings”. What Veronica wanted us to do was to behave normal and not mean to hurt
anyone’s feelings because they are different from us and at the same time we should thank god for
creating us normally.

3. Why did Jack punch Julian in the face? What characteristic does this show about Jack? Why? (“Partners”
and “Detention”)
Jack punches Julian in the face for talking about being partners. It indicates it as “Could we switch partners
if we wanted to?" said Julian, looking very innocent. "Me and Jack had this science-fair project idea we
wanted to work on together. "Well, I guess we could arrange that . . . ," she started to say."No, it's okay,
Ms. Rubin," I said quickly, heading out the door. "Bye!"Julian ran after me. "Why'd you do that?" he said,
catching up to me at the stairs. "We could have been partners. You don't have to be friends with that freak
if you don't want to be,you know...." And that's when I punched him. Right in the mouth.” This shows that
Jack was mad at Julian for first calling August a freak and also Julian lied about the science fair project idea.
This also shows the characteristics of Jack because it wasn’t very nice of him to walk out of the room like
that and then when Julian comes and talks to Jack and he just punches him in the face.

4. Why does Jack’s social status at school change? What characteristic does this show about Julian? Why?
(“Back From Winter Break,” “The War,” and “Switching Tables”)

Jack’s social status changes at school and Julian is revengeful. The evidence to the point is “But then the
same thing happened that happened yesterday: our lunch table was called, they got their food, and then
headed toward a new table on the other side of the cafeteria.” “ so basically what happened at the party
was that Julian went around telling everyone that you punched him because you had emotional problems.”
Jack’s social status has changed after the winter break because there was a party at Julian’s house and
Julian told everybody that Jack punched him in the face because he was emotional and after that people
stopped sitting with him at lunch and kind of stopped talking to Jack. Now this also shows that Julian is very
mean and likes to take revenge because otherwise he wouldn’t have told everybody that Jack had punched
him in the face.

5. Can Jack be considered a quality friend for August? Why or why not? Use evidence from the novel to
justify your opinion.
Yes, Jack can be a quality friend for August. The evidence to this is that “Like, if all
the guys in the fifth grade were lined up against a wall and I got to choose anyone I
wanted to hang out with, I would choose August.” “We could have been partners.
You don't have to be friends with that freak if you don't want to be,you
know...."And that's when I punched him. Right in the mouth.” This shows that Jack
will always be by August’s side because also at another point Jack punched Julian in
the face for calling Auggie a freak.

Higher Level Extension Question (for bonus points)

How does Jack’s perspective help the reader understand the novel better?