101 pages • 3 hours read
Out of My Mind
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Chapters 25-27Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary
As the final round begins, Mr. Kingsley explains that the questions will be more difficult although the scoring remains the same. The test begins, and Melody and her teammates match the Perry Valley team question for question. In the end, the teams are tied at 82 points with one final question left.
The question is a mathematics question, Melody’s weakest subject. She is stuck between answers C and D, and at the last moment, chooses to answer D. The rest of her classmates do the same, as do three of the four Perry Valley students. Mr. Kingsley then states that the Spaulding Street School is the winner. Melody is so happy that she begins to jerk in her seat. She says, “My body went a little wacko on me” (222), and she hears Claire ask for someone to “Shut her up!” (222).
Melody’s sounds of joy are lost in the celebration as family members rush onto the stage and balloons and confetti fall from the ceiling. Reporters go around the room and take pictures, and many of them choose to photograph Melody. Then, the winning team is interviewed on television, and Melody hopes “that my hair looked okay and that I wouldn’t look too goofy” (224). Each member of the team identifies himself or herself, and when Connor tries to turn the attention away from Melody, the young girl speaks up using her computer.
The reporter is fascinated by Melody and asks her a series of questions about her participation in the event. When the reporter asks how being a member of the team will change life at school, Melody says, “Maybe kids will talk to me more” (226). Claire speaks up at that point and blatantly lies, saying she speaks to Melody all the time and that they are best friends. Melody and the rest of the team are stunned speechless by Claire’s lies.
Chapter 26 Summary
Mr. Dimming wants the winning team to go out to celebrate at Linguini’s, a local Italian restaurant. Melody is uncertain as to whether she should attend but changes her mind when Connor tells her they couldn’t have won without her. Melody’s mom agrees to take her while the rest of her family heads home. As they arrive at the restaurant and everyone else goes inside, Melody realizes that there are stairs to get into the door and no handicap-accessible entrance. When Mrs. Brooks asks an employee, he tells her that the elevator is out of order.
Melody’s mom is then forced to push the wheelchair up each of the five steps to get into the main dining room. The waitress comes around to take everyone’s orders, and Melody asks for mac and cheese. While they wait for their food, the kids use the paper and crayons at the table to draw pictures and laugh. Melody looks at them wistfully and “tried really hard to look like I was having fun too, but all I wanted to do was go home” (233). She notices that Claire is unusually quiet.
The food arrives, but Melody doesn’t touch her plate, as she’s too embarrassed to have her mom feed her in front of everyone else on her team. With Melody’s reluctant permission, Mrs. Brooks begins to spoon feed her, but as the rest of the group slowly stops to stare, then looks down at their plates, Melody loses her appetite. Instead, like Claire, Melody has her food boxed up so she can eat it at home.
As the group talks about what they will see in Washington, D.C., Claire says she doesn’t feel well then promptly vomits all over the floor and Mr. Dimming’s brand new shoes. Melody wonders if “Claire felt as embarrassed as I had while Mom was feeding me” (237). When Claire comes back from the bathroom, no one mentions her illness. Melody feels a double standard has been applied to her; Claire can get sick, and no one judges her “yet I’m the one everybody looks at sideways” (238).
Chapter 27 Summary
The next day, Melody’s mom shows her that she has made the front page of the newspaper and is the primary focus of the article about the team’s win. Melody is amazed but then worries that the other kids on the team won’t like that she was the focus of the article. “They will hate me” (241), she tells her mother. Anticipating the reactions at school, Melody offers that everyone should have been in the picture, and Rose immediately agrees. “I just can’t do anything right […] I just want to be like everybody else” (242), Melody thinks sadly.
Mr. Dimming congratulates the team and tells them that the principal has chosen to celebrate a Quiz Team Day on Friday. All the students in the school will receive free pizzas and sodas. Mr. Dimming singles out Melody as the student whose answer to the final question helped the team win; the other students applaud politely. He then outlines their practice schedule in the two weeks before the trip to Washington, D.C.
At lunch, Melody tells Catherine that the other students don’t want her on the team. She says, “They’re scared of me […] They think I look funny” (245). Catherine notes that this fact has not bothered Melody before, but to Melody, this time is different. This test will be on a national stage, and she thinks that the other students are embarrassed to be seen with her.
Catherine helps Melody set aside her negative feelings, and practice that afternoon goes well. Melody sees Rose whispering with Molly and Claire and wonders if they’re gossiping about her.
Chapters 25-27 Analysis
Melody’s answer to the final question in the championship round of the Whiz Kids competition gives Spaulding Street the win. They will move on to the national competition in Washington, D.C. Despite the win and her role in securing the victory, Melody is acutely aware that her teammates are uncomfortable with her and her condition. While her condition continues to alienate her from her peers, it gets her attention as a human-interest piece. Claire continues in her role as the antagonist; she tells Melody that Molly should be onstage instead of her and asks that someone shut Melody up after their win, only to describe herself as Melody’s best friend when she realizes Melody is the center of attention during interviews. Clearly, she’s cruel, manipulative, and attention-seeking.
The celebratory dinner introduces some of the physical difficulties that Melody still faces, even with her wheelchair and Medi-Talk. While most public facilities require handicap accessibility, the restaurant’s elevator is broken, and Mrs. Brooks must push Melody up the steps. The dinner scene causes Melody to reveal one of the aspects of her disability that she had previously been hiding—that she must be spoon-fed. Here, Draper is exposing how much more difficult it is for someone with physical disabilities to complete everyday tasks that able-bodied people take for granted.
When Claire vomits on the floor, Melody notes that no one seems disgusted by her like they did when Melody’s mother fed her. She realizes there’s a discrepancy in this, but she doesn’t follow the thought to the natural conclusion. It’s ok for Claire to throw up because she’s not disabled, and the other children consider her one of them. Melody is an outsider, and thus all of her behaviors further solidify her as “other” in her peers’ minds. The spoon-feeding is unsettling because it’s out of their realm of experience for what’s “normal” in their peer group. Draper wants to clearly distinguish the issue in the reader’s mind and point out the unfairness of the situation.
The newspaper the next morning features Melody in a large picture on the front page, and the media attention does Melody no favors. Rather than being ignored, she’s singled out as the quiz star, and her teammates feel that they’re being treated unfairly. Melody instinctively knows this will be an issue, showing herself to be remarkably understanding of social situations for someone who has few social interactions.
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By Sharon M. Draper
