In yesterday's class, we read an amazing passage from Amy Ellis Nutt's book, Becoming Nicole. At the end of Chapter 12, Wyatt Maines is performing in the fourth grade Christmas concert, but is faced with a decision: does she wear pants (the uniform of the boys in her class) or a skirt (the girls' uniform)? Read over the passage below and answer the questions that follow, using the comments section of this post.
But onstage, the girls wore black skirts and white blouses and stood on one side, and the boys, in black pants, white shirt, and a tie, stood on the other. He [Wyatt Maines] pleaded with his parents to be allowed to wear a skirt. Wayne wanted no part of the discussion. Kelly enlisted the help of Lisa Erhardt.
She suggested a solution, a true compromise: Wyatt could wear culottes, the baggy shorts that looked more like a skirt than pants. On the night of the concert, Wayne, in a rare moment of wanting to please Wyatt, presented him with a bouquet of roses. Wyatt stood in the girls' section, in his black culottes and white blouse, but whether by design or accident, he also stood right on the seam where the girls' and boys' sides met. Wyatt was beside himself, beaming with pride and joy throughout the concert. A transition had begun and no one even seemed to notice.
1) What do you see as the significance of Wyatt standing "right on the seam where the girls' and boys' sides met?"
2) What do you think of Wayne giving young Wyatt flowers? Does he seem to be accepting Wyatt's gender identity?
3) Lastly, the title of this chapter was "Transitions." Look up the definition of the word transitions. How does this definition help you to understand this pivotal scene?
1) I think that Wyatt felt comfortable standing on the seam where the girls and boys sides meet because he felt that people were accepting him turning into a girl but at the same time his parents wanted him to be in the middle because they didn't just want him on the girls side just in case someone in the audience went up to the family and said " Your kids a boy why is he on the girls side"
ReplyDelete2) I think that Wayne is starting to accept wyatt as a girl and giving Wyatt roses made Wyatt feel like his dad was starting to accept him more as a girl.
3) Oxford English Dictionary "The process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another" (778) This definition helps me understand what Wyatt is going through, Like the process of changing from a boy to a girl.
1. I think that where Wyatt was standing was probably on accident, I think it's more of a coincidence than anything.
ReplyDelete2. I think Wayne giving Wyatt flowers was very nice of him. I do think that he seems to be accepting Wyatt's gender identity more than he did before.
3. According to Oxford English Dictionary, transition is "the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another" (778) This definition helps me understand why the book said, "A transition has begun and no one even seemed to notice" (78)
1.The significance is Wyatt didn't know which side to go on.
ReplyDelete2.Yes he was wanting to please Wyatt.
3.The start of the actual transition from Wyatt to Nicole and Wayne starting to accept it now.