Motivation To Get-Out Of Philip's Homeroom

Throughout the book, Phillip's selfish actions are caused by his original motivation to get out of Ms. Narwin's class. Towards the start of the book, in the middle of the year, everybody gets their homeroom switched. Phillip unluckily lands in his least favorite teacher's homeroom. This could later cause conflicts as Phillip doesn't like Ms. Narwin; he implies this through his conversation with his friend, stating, "I have to find a way to get transferred" (31). This quote foreshadows Phillip's actions in the future and reveals his true motivations. Phillip doesn't even consider any other possibilities. Instead, he impulsively decides to get transferred out of her class instead of coming to a compromise. This is an excellent example of Phillip's

And I, like—I was singing it. Mostly to masked. Then, I have this teacher—people don't like her— and she, well, she threw me out of the class and—"(82). The author's clever usage of dashes tells the reader that Phillip frequently pauses throughout his speech to gather his thoughts. This proves that Philip was making up his story as he went. He frequently paused to put it in a way in which he was the protagonist. In the quote, Phillip states that "people don't like" Ms. Narwin, portraying him as the hero. This stems from his original motivation to get out of Ms. Narwin's class. As Phillip's actions gather public attention, he starts to question

He doesn't know what to do and goes back and forth for a while. He states, "Been trying to figure out a way to get on the school track team. Maybe—like the coach said—I should ask Narwin for extra work. Be worth it. I hate working out without a team…." (98). In his quote, Phillip states, "maybe—like coach said—I should ask Narwin for extra work" the "maybe" implies that he could end up laying this off until it is impossible to go back. In his quote, he also states that he only wants to do this for the benefit of being able to join the track team. This demonstrates his selfish character as he doesn't once state the impact this has had on Ms. Narwin or that he is doing this for himself and the welfare of others. This drastically changes when Phillip feels the consequences of his actions as his peers do not support him. Yet Phillip tries to escape all his problems and forget that anything ever happened. At his new private school, his teacher states, "In fact, we usually begins by singing the national anthem. Maybe you'd like to lead us in that?" Phillip replies in tears, "I don't know the words" (177). Phillip finally realizes that his impulsive actions have consequences and feels that his actions are still heavily selfish. Instead of fixing the wrong, he runs to a new school hoping that nothing follows