Deenie

Through her young protagonist’s point of view, author Judy Blume reflects the typical concerns, behavior, and emotional development of a 13-year-old in order to better relate to her intended readers. The first-person narration evokes personal journal entries, offering insight into Deenie’s thoughts and emotions while describing the events of her daily life. She discusses her family, school life, and personal hopes and dreams, as well as her fears and anxieties. This type of narration is often used in children’s and young adult realistic fiction, allowing readers to explore the subjective perspective of a fictional character from a safe distance, which may either validate, inform, or challenge their own experience. The first-person narrative creates a sense of intimacy and relatability that is characteristic of the emerging literary trend toward realism in 1970s adolescent fiction.

Deenie’s perspective also highlights her naïveté and ignorance of certain topics at the novel’s outset. She finds the fantasy of a future as a rich, famous model appealing, for example, but does not enjoy the process of going to interviews and castings. Her ignorance, largely a product of her youth, is also made evident by her internalized prejudice toward certain characters. Her attitude when she first mentions Old Lady Murray, for instance, is cruel: “I try not to look at Old Lady Murray because she’s so ugly she makes me want to vomit” (2). Deenie also feels awkward around Gena Courtney, who uses a wheelchair, so she now avoids her former friend, and she nicknames Barbara Curtis “Creeping Crud” due to her eczema. Deenie’s honesty about her fear of and disgust toward these characters reflects her lack of understanding of disability. Because she does not understand those characters’ respective conditions, Deenie unquestioningly reproduces societal ableist attitudes. By characterizing Deenie as relatively ignorant about disability from the outset, the narrative foreshadows her upcoming emotional journey. Deenie’s own diagnosis sets up as a dramatic reversal of roles and, consequently, a catalyst for the young girl’s emotional growth, establishing the theme of Empathy as a Tool to Challenge Ableism. In addition, the character of Deenie provides a realistic representation of internalized prejudice, encouraging the reader to examine their own biases.

Deenie’s relationships with her family are also introduced from the very first chapter, which opens with Deenie and Thelma going to an interview with a modeling agency, establishing the theme of The Negative Impact of Parental Ambition on Self-Identity. This frames Thelma’s ambitions for Deenie as paramount to the young protagonist’s characterization, with the first paragraph creating a parallel between Deenie and her namesake from the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass. That reference draws attention to Thelma’s prescriptive view of her daughter, since she immediately compares her to a fictional, idealized figure whom she wants Deenie to emulate. Deenie and Thelma’s complicated relationship is made clear by Thelma’s unrelenting scrutiny of her behavior, including her diet and her posture; Deenie reflects, “I’ve been walking around with books on my head. I hope that’s helped [my posture], so Ma will leave me alone” (4). Although Deenie does not want to disappoint her mother, the narrative also hints at her later rebellion against Thelma’s wishes. The cheerleading tryouts, in particular, highlight Deenie’s desire for independence and self-determination while illustrating both Thelma’s need for control and Frank’s unconditional support of his daughters. The dinner during which the Fenner family discusses the tryouts, with Thelma dismissing cheerleading as unsuitable for either Deenie or Helen, foreshadows the sisters’ upcoming conflict with their mother.

As for her relationship to beauty and disability, Deenie is once again characterized as somewhat naïve about her social status. She does recognize the inherent privilege that she is afforded as a beautiful person: “Most times I don’t even think about the way I look but on special occasions, like today, being good-looking really comes in handy. Not that a person has any choice about it. I’m just lucky” (12). However, she does not yet question that her privilege necessarily implies that others, like the people she belittles for their disabilities, experience stigma and oppression. Deenie’s perspective reflects the sociocultural understanding of disability that was prevalent in the 1970s and lingers to this day. Although she does not state so explicitly, the narrative suggests that Deenie views beauty as a moral good and disability, especially when it affects physical appearance, as a negative, a perspective promoted by her mother’s attention to her looks. Her anxieties stem from the implicit threat that someone else’s disability might pose to her social status. She initially avoids Barbara Curtis, for instance, because she is afraid of catching her skin disease. This sets up the theme of Disability as a Catalyst for Self-Acceptance, because Deenie’s diagnosis is symbolically used to upend her self-image and her relationship to her appearance.