Finally

“Wonderland and Narnia have about as much in common with Willow Falls as a duck has with, well, something really different from a duck.”

Rory’s declaration that Willow Falls lacks magical qualities is characteristic of her comical narrative voice. The unexpected humor of “well, something really different from a duck” amusingly contradicts the expectation of a clever comparison set up by the beginning of the sentence. For readers of the entire series, her comment is also full of dramatic irony: More magic exists in the setting of Willow Falls than Rory knows at this point.

“Poor Mom and Dad. They’re not handling this impending birthday very well. It’s going to be almost as big a change for them as it will be for me.”

Rory’s comments about her parents demonstrate an empathy and understanding far beyond her years. This characterizes her as a caring person and loving daughter, and also foreshadows the story’s later revelations about her having The Gift of Really Seeing Others.

“I’m 12! Look out world, here comes Rory Swenson! I leap off of the bed, slide halfway across the floor on top of the phone brochures, and slam into the door.”

Rory’s exclamations indicate how positive she is that everything will change for her on her 12th birthday. She excitedly imagines enjoying her new adult privileges and changing the way the world sees her. This sets up the ironic humor of the physical comedy that follows, as the first thing that happens is not a glorious emergence into a new, sophisticated adult self but an embarrassing and somewhat painful accident. There is symbolism in the piles of phone brochures that lead to her slide across the floor: They are meant to be a badge of her ability to handle adult responsibilities, but she has carelessly left them all over the floor as a child might. This is yet another hint that Rory is not as ready for adult life as she imagines.

“THIS is what all the fuss is about? THIS is what makes people wait in line at coffee shops for hours?”

The all-caps emphasizing the word “THIS” convey Rory’s disbelief and outrage at her first sip of coffee. Her hyperbolic claim that people “wait in line […] for hours” for coffee adds to the humorous tone of her narrative voice and also characterizes her as still somewhat naive about adult life. This moment foreshadows the way that several other adult privileges Rory has been yearning for will turn out to not be the pleasures she imagines.

“I immediately recognize him as the sweetest, softest, most loving bunny in the entire world.”

Rory’s hyperbolic description of Kyle R. is reinforced by the asyndeton—or running list not connected by the word “and”—in the phrase “sweetest, softest, most loving bunny.” Both rhetorical devices communicate her rush of enthusiasm and show that she is still childlike in her ability to get quickly carried away by emotion. Later, it will become clear how ironic this description is when she has to return the rabbit for trying repeatedly to smother her in her sleep.

“Rory: MOS

Mom puts her hand on my shoulder. ‘I know that means Mom over shoulder, honey. I have a whole book on teenage Internet shorthand.’”

Rory’s mother’s comment reveals much about their relationship. Rory’s overprotective mother has, in preparation for Rory turning 12 and gaining access to instant messaging, read a whole book about internet slang so that she will know what Rory is up to online. Another parent might attempt to hide this knowledge and use it to her advantage, but Rory’s mother is completely honest: She simply wants Rory to know that she is still monitoring her, not to trick her into revealing something she might want to keep private.

“Alexa: Oh! I think I know the girl who you mean. Sort of mousy and bookish? Kind of blends into the background?”

Rory’s classmate’s perspective on Rory confirms what Rory herself suspects: She is not someone who draws much attention, either positive or negative. Although she is keenly aware of the popular Alexa, Alexa has only a vague idea of who Rory is. Alexa’s comparison of Rory to a mouse implies that Rory is quiet and tries to be unobtrusive and that her looks are somewhat drab. Her comment about Rory blending into the background is a callback to Rory’s own Chapter 1 comment about being like a chameleon.

“But all I can think is, You won’t get what you want, until you see what you need. What is it I need to see? And will I know it when I see it?”

Angelina’s reappearance and Rory’s subsequent thoughts about her prophecy serve multiple functions. They reinforce the characterization of Angelina as a mysterious person who is strangely intertwined with Rory’s life. They also bring her prophecy back into the narrative at a point when the reader has some evidence from Rory’s recent experiences to begin trying to decode the cryptic message. Finally, Rory’s thoughts reveal that she takes the message seriously and is worried about it, increasing narrative tension.

“I wait for her to say she’ll go back to making my lunch, but she doesn’t.”

After Rory tells her mother how unappetizing the school lunch was, she hopes her mother will volunteer to go back to making Rory’s lunch. The school lunch is yet another example of how disappointing some of Rory’s new privileges turn out to be, but she is not willing to say this directly to her mother. Instead, she waits for her mother to rescue her, showing that she is still quite childlike in some ways. Rory’s mother shows her skill at giving the appropriate kind of Support from Family and Friends During the Tween Years: She does not jump in and provide the tacitly-called-for rescue, because she knows that this is a problem Rory is old enough to solve on her own, and she wants to support Rory’s growing independence.

“‘It was…educational.’

‘Are you going to do it again?’

I hold up the handful of five dollar bills. ‘Definitely!’”

As Rory and her mother talk about Rory’s first babysitting job, the ellipsis in Rory’s summary of the evening indicates that she is pausing to process her thoughts about the experience. She is starting to realize that exercising her new privileges can teach her important lessons about herself and the world around her, and she takes this process seriously. The image of her holding up a handful of money emphasizes that she also recognizes the rewards that come from growing and taking on new responsibilities, supporting the narrative’s theme of The Expectations and Reality of Growing Up.

“The mall seems bigger than when I was here with Dad. Annabelle and I stand just inside the doorway, soaking it all in.”

Rory’s sense that the mall seems bigger without her father shows how much more exciting and intimidating the world seems when she has to function in it independently. Fortunately, she has Annabelle to share the experience with, demonstrating the importance of peer support as tweens begin navigating the world on their own. Rory and Annabelle pause at another symbolic threshold together—“just inside the doorway”—both hesitant to take the next step despite their excitement at the possibilities that lie ahead. Here, the mall represents a controlled and age-appropriate version of the world the girls will be expected to navigate in adolescence.

“I look amazing! Somehow they got rid of my baby fat. I have cheekbones! I stare into the mirror, trying to burn this image of myself into my brain.

‘You look older,’ Annabelle says, nodding appreciatively.”

The exclamation marks convey how very excited Rory is that the makeup has made her look older, disguising her “baby fat,” or the roundness of her face that betrays her youth. Her longing to emerge into true adolescence shows as she stares at her image, trying to “burn” it into her memory. Annabelle confirms that what is most important about makeup is its ability to make Rory look older. This sets up the irony of what happens next: Rory has an allergic reaction that makes her face swell up even rounder than it was initially. The allergic reaction symbolically conveys that Rory is not really ready for a more adult life—her system is, quite literally, rejecting it.

“Hair-free legs, here I come. How hard could it be?”

Rory’s breezy confidence about shaving her legs sets up the comedic reversal that is about to happen in the following chapter. Ironically, though she is sure that getting rid of leg hair must be a simple matter, she will end up with rashy, bleeding skin that is as far from her ideal “smooth and shiny” “movie legs” as it can possibly be (180).

“I have faith in you.”

As Rory navigates her new privileges and responsibilities, Annabelle is an ideal friend. When Rory is panicking over not knowing how to use the hair-removal products that she and Annabelle have purchased, Annabelle is quick to reassure her. Annabelle’s confidence in Rory contributes to Rory’s faith in herself and illustrates the importance of Support from Family and Friends During the Tween Years.

“Since both legs hurt now, the only way I can walk is with really wide steps, like a cowboy who’s sat on a horse for too long.”

Rory’s simile comparing herself to a cowboy is typical of the humorous tone of her narrative voice and conveys the irony of her situation. Her intention in trying to remove the hair from her legs is to create smooth, shiny legs like the ones she associates with glamorous movie stars—and yet she ends up with bloody, blistered legs and has to walk “like a cowboy,” an image that presents her as the complete opposite of glamorous, but still aligns her with a movie archetype.

“I’d recognize that voice anywhere. I hold my breath and turn. He’s smiling.”

The short, choppy sentences Rory uses to describe the moment when Jake talks to her at school conveys how breathlessly excited she is. Because “He’s smiling” is the shortest of these sentences and comes at the end of the series, the importance of Jake’s smile is emphasized. Rory’s claim that she would know his voice “anywhere” shows that it is not simply being talked to by any boy or even by a movie star that has her so excited: There is something specific about Jake Harrison that Rory responds to.

“I can’t help noticing that the field has never looked better. Freshly planted grass, newly painted lines on the football field. Even the wooden bleachers have been sanded and repolished.”

The image Rory describes is of a picture-perfect, stereotypical American school athletic field—the kind often seen in movies and television. When Rory says that she “can’t help noticing,” her slightly cynical tone indicates that she understands how artificial this picture is: The carefully maintained and up-to-date facilities seen in movies and television do not really exist for most American students. This is another example of how quickly Rory notices things and draws accurate conclusions about them.

“Boy, those red eyes sure do glow in the dark.”

Rory draws attention to Kyle R.’s menacingly glowing eyes for a second time, emphasizing how powerfully they glow with the interjection “Boy.” She finds the intensity of the red glow surprising, because she does not yet suspect that the rabbit has homicidal urges. Rabbits’ eyes do have a red shine when they reflect light in a dark room, but red, glowing eyes are also associated with the demonic—and in Kyle R.’s case, the red foreshadows the later revelation of his evil nature.

“While they stand there helplessly, I grab the mirror and instantly wish I hadn’t. I look like Horton, that Dr. Seuss elephant with the huge ears. Except I have one huge ear, and one normal-sized ear.”

Rory’s ear-piercing leads to yet another comical disaster: Her previously unknown gold allergy results in her ear swelling up to a ridiculous size. Her hyperbolic simile—comparing the ear to an elephant’s ear—and her allusion to Dr. Seuss’s lighthearted children’s books about Horton the Elephant both increase the humor of the scene.

“Amanda turns to me. ‘Wow, I can’t believe you did that. You could be the one kissing him.’”

Amanda knows that Rory also has a crush on Jake, so she is impressed with Rory’s generosity in suggesting that Kira be the one to film the kissing scene. Of course, she does not know what Rory knows about the intensity of Kira’s crush; Rory’s superior knowledge of Kira is a result of The Gift of Really Seeing Others. That Rory is willing to stay in the background and let Kira have her special spotlight moment is characteristic of both her kindness and her tendency to blend in, unnoticed.

“I take a last look at Bunny. His cute orange ears are still cute. His soft white fur is still soft. And his adorable little wiggling nose is still adorable. But inside his bunny chest is a heart of stone.”

Rory’s humorous description of Bunny is typical of her witty narrative voice. The parallel structure of the visual, tactile, and kinesthetic images she uses to describe Bunny reinforces the sense that Bunny seems harmless and adorable in every possible way. The juxtaposition of this description with the passage’s seemingly absurd final claim—that the rabbit has “a heart of stone”—is comical. The structure of the passage as a whole shows how deceptive Bunny’s appearance is by stressing over and over that he still looks as sweet and cute on the outside, but now that Rory knows his inner character, she sees that he is actually dangerous and evil—a funny example of The Gift of Really Seeing Others.

“The whole way home I think about how at least one of my attempts to look better for the party is actually going to happen. I won’t have makeup, or earrings, or hair-free legs, but at least I won’t have glasses, either.”

The fact that Rory thinks about this “The whole way home” indicates how important it is to her to change the way she is perceived by others. At this point, she thinks that making herself appear more mature and more stereotypically feminine is the key to getting the positive attention she longs for. That she is setting herself up for yet another disappointment is foreshadowed by the list of her previous disappointments: the makeup, the earrings, and the hair-free legs.

“No. Other people look. You see. Looking isn’t the same as seeing.”

Amanda’s pronouncement at Natalie’s party brings Rory’s special ability to Rory’s attention for the first time. Amanda’s words clarify what makes Rory different from most of the people around her and explain how Rory has ended up helping so many people throughout the story. Later, these words will help Rory unlock the meaning behind Angelia’s mysterious prophecy. Rory has to apply her gift for “seeing” to herself, as well, so that she can begin to distinguish what her own individual needs are instead of just assuming that she wants the things everyone else seems to want.