Perfection on the Outside: Have you ever known someone who always jumps to conclusions and imagines the craziest things? Then that person might sound a lot like Phoebe Winterbottom. In the novel Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Phoebe is a thirteen-year-old girl who is very uptight and thinks she’s perfect. However, as the story unfolds, we see that her perfection is something that she wants people to believe about her, but isn’t real. When the reader looks closer, we see her flaws, such as her demanding personality, and wild imagination. Phoebe’s flaws become very apparent when confronted with problems. When her mother leaves the family one day without an explanation, Phoebe quickly jumps to conclusions about why and refuses to believe her …show more content…
Finney asks what she eats, Phoebe explains that she eats “ special vegetarian meals low in calories and no cholesterol”. (152) Since Ms. Finney does not have any of these she goes to the cupboards, returns with muesli, and asks Phoebe if she can eat it. She says that she will eat it, but still makes a fuss out of it. This is probably one of Phoebe’s most judgmental examples, she acts like she is trying to teach the Finneys about cholesterol, and the Finneys don't want to be lectured by a thirteen-year-old. Mrs. Finney is trying her best to stay calm and try to ignore Phoebe’s rudeness. It seems that Mrs. Winterbottom has influenced this trait because she allows the poor behavior to happen, without saying anything, which is the reason that she thinks it’s okay to boss everybody around. Towards the end of the story, Mrs. Winterbottom returns to her family, letting them know that she had a child named Mike when she was young. She put him up for adoption. Mrs. Winterbottom explains that she has spent a lot of time talking with Mike, and would like him to join the family. Mr. Winterbottom is at first very shocked about Mike. Mr. Winterbottem says that “[he] always thought a son would be a nice addition to the family”(243). Unfortunately, Phoebe’s reaction was