47 pages • 1-hour read
Deenie
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, emotional abuse, and ableism.
The Negative Impact of Parental Ambition on Self-Identity
In the first chapter, Deenie states, “Ma says the first time she held me she knew right away that if she named me Deenie I would turn out the same way—beautiful, that is” (1). By mentioning Thelma’s ambitions at the very beginning of the novel, the narrative hints at Deenie’s upcoming emotional conflict. Helen and Deenie are each assigned a distinct role by their mother, with Helen being categorized as smart and Deenie as beautiful. Through Thelma’s interactions with her daughters, the novel explores how parental ambitions and expectations affect their children’s identities and sense of self-worth.
Thelma encourages her daughters to fulfill the roles she has chosen for them to the highest standard. She wants Deenie to become a famous model so that she can gain wealth and social capital that will enable her to live a safe, comfortable life. Thelma is actively involved in Deenie’s life: She coaches her, makes appointments with modeling agencies, and plans every step of her future. Although Helen is slightly more independent than Deenie, Thelma also encourages her older daughter to pursue an intellectual career, focus on her academics, and avoid distractions like parties and romance. As she explains at the end of the book, Thelma simply “wanted better [than what she had herself]” for her daughters (149). Thelma’s ambitions for Helen and Deenie are driven by her love for her daughters and her desire to provide a comfortable future for them.
However, Deenie feels limited by Thelma’s narrow vision for her future. She is in seventh grade and is now developing her own interests and preferences, which leads her to resent Thelma’s control over her life. She compares herself to Helen, who is set to become “a doctor or lawyer or engineer” (38), and wonders what will happen if she is not able to become a model. Deenie does not even tell her mother about wanting to try out for cheerleading, highlighting the young girl’s conflicting emotions. On the one hand, she does not want to disappoint Thelma, but on the other hand, she also wants to break away from her influence.
Thelma’s parental ambitions become particularly problematic when they directly conflict with Deenie’s diagnosis. Thelma is devastated by learning that Deenie may not be able to model. Deenie is upset by her mother’s lack of compassion and how she consistently focuses on Deenie’s future rather than her current emotional struggle. The young girl eventually snaps at her mother, “I’m not just a face! […] I’m a person too” (132). Helen also fights back against Thelma’s control after she is forced to sacrifice her romantic relationship to focus on her studies: “I used to tell myself it didn’t matter if I wasn’t pretty like Deenie because I have a special brain and Deenie’s is just ordinary but […] it’s not true! [Don’t] you see you can’t make us be what you want” (148).
Despite Thelma’s good intentions, Helen and Deenie both suffer under her control in different ways. In addition, both sisters experience feelings of guilt for being unable to fulfill their assigned roles, which in turn keeps them from connecting with each other. Once they stand up for themselves, Helen and Deenie become much closer. By the end of the novel, Deenie has even decided to become an orthopedist, a profession that only she learned about due to her scoliosis, subverting Thelma’s vision for her future. Significantly, her personal ambition directly contrasts with Thelma’s limited view of Deenie as more beautiful than smart, which cements the young girl’s newfound confidence and emotional growth, highlighting the novel’s message of how profoundly important parental openness and acceptance are to their children’s development.
Disability as a Catalyst for Self-Acceptance
When she is diagnosed with scoliosis, Deenie immediately rejects any association between herself and other people with disabilities. She has been conditioned to value her appearance above all else, including her intellect or moral qualities, and cannot imagine a reality in which she is not beautiful. On some level, she is aware that beauty itself is not necessarily a mark of social or moral superiority: “Most times I don’t even think about the way I look but on special occasions, […] being good-looking really comes in handy. Not that a person has any choice about it. I’m just lucky” (12). However, despite recognizing the privilege that her appearance affords her, Deenie does not question her internalized ableism until after she experiences social stigma herself. Deenie’s journey toward emotional growth and self-acceptance is catalyzed by her diagnosis, and in the end, it leads her to a greater understanding of herself and her identity.
At the beginning of the novel, Deenie is extremely prejudiced against visibly different characters. She is scared of Old Lady Murray because of her kyphosis, avoids her former friend Gena Courtney, who has a disability after an accident, and nicknames Barbara Curtis “Creeping Crud” (32) due to her skin condition (32). Even after her own diagnosis, Deenie is appalled when the vice-principal offers her to ride the bus with the other “handicapped kids.” After she is diagnosed with scoliosis, she even turns her own prejudice against herself and decides to cut her hair to lean into what she perceives to be a flawed appearance: “If I was going to be ugly I was going to be ugly all the way…as ugly as anybody’d ever been before… maybe even uglier” (103).
This conflict between conventional beauty standards and anything perceived as a deviation from them highlights Deenie’s journey toward self-acceptance. The novel uses Deenie’s reaction to her appearance to emphasize the tension between social norms and the marginalization experienced by people unable or unwilling to participate in those norms. After her diagnosis, Deenie struggles with the pressure to perform appropriately socially and adhere to beauty standards. However, as she learns to challenge those oppressive norms, Deenie works through her prejudice and internalized ableism. She eventually frees herself from her preoccupation with conventional beauty standards and creates more meaningful relationships with characters against whom she was earlier prejudiced. In turn, she learns to embrace her own condition, and by the end of the book, Deenie’s self-image reflects her emotional growth and now relies on a more accurate, empathetic understanding of people with disabilities.
Empathy as a Tool to Challenge Ableism
Over the course of the novel, Deenie learns to confront and challenge ableist attitudes, including her own, through connecting with several other characters. While at first Deenie cannot bring herself to look at Old Lady Murray because the older woman is “so ugly she makes [her] want to vomit” (2), Deenie later finds that they share a similar diagnosis. When Nurse Harrigan shows Deenie pictures of patients with untreated scoliosis and kyphosis to encourage her to wear her brace, Deenie recognizes Old Lady Murray’s condition in one of the patients’ photos. Initially upset by the similarity between them, the young girl comments, “It was hard to believe that I really and truly had something in common with Old Lady Murray” (100). However, the incident prompts Deenie to become curious about Old Lady Murray’s experience. She starts addressing the older woman directly and asks questions about her family, suggesting that Deenie is growing more emotionally mature and recognizes Old Lady Murray’s humanity, setting aside her earlier prejudice.
Deenie goes through a similar emotional journey with her classmates Barbara Curtis and Gena Courtney. When the novel begins, Deenie has nicknamed her classmate “the Creeping Crud because she’s got this disgusting rash all over her” and actively avoids her for fear of contamination (32). However, after Barbara helps Deenie lace her shoes when she is unable to do it herself because of her brace, Deenie warms up to the other girl. After Barbara explains her condition to Deenie, the latter realizes that her fear and prejudice are unfounded and unfair. Her internalized ableism is also revealed when she mentions Gena Courtney, who started wearing leg braces after an accident. At first, Deenie tries to distance herself from Gena: “Don’t they know I’m going to be fine in four years—but Gena Courtney [is] always going to be the way [she is] now!” (131). However, after experiencing prejudice herself, Deenie starts to consider individuals with disabilities as complex people rather than mere stereotypes, reflecting, “I wonder if [Gena Courtney] thinks of herself as a handicapped person or just a regular girl, like me” (152).
When Deenie is diagnosed with scoliosis, her prejudice against people with disabilities turns inward. She is initially appalled by the idea of wearing a brace and becomes highly self-conscious in public. She calls herself “ugly” and refuses the support offered by her vice principal, dehumanizing herself and all people with disabilities by focusing on the disability rather than the entire person. Through her interactions with other people with disabilities, the narrative suggests that building personal connections and empathy can develop a more nuanced and compassionate understanding of disability. Deenie’s emotional journey illustrates the importance of fostering empathy on an individual level while highlighting the pervasive sociocultural beliefs that enable prejudice and oppression.
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