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Philip's Motivation In Nothing But The Truth

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Everyone has lied at one point in their life. But when they constantly do it, it turns into a disaster. This is the case for Philip, the main character in Avi's book Nothing But the Truth. Philip hates English, and his English teacher Mrs. Narwin. His motivation came from the urge to move out of Mrs. Narwin’s homeroom. Philip’s hate toward her makes him lie constantly, making him spread misinformation to the world outside of school. Philip’s decision to act out during the morning announcements were the start of consequences for him and the people around him.

When Philip was informed he would not be able to join the track team because of his low grade in ELA, he hums during the silence of the Star Spangled Banner in order to bring himself back …show more content…

Because of this, he and the people around him get consequences that impact them severely. Towards the beginning of the book, he purposely chose not to do well in ELA. After he received a bad grade, Coach Jamison told him that he wasn’t “even allowed to try out” (Avi 23). Philip’s decision to not do well in Mrs. Narwin’s English class forced him to give up track as a consequence. Philip lied to everyone again about being “patriotic” when he hums the Star Spangled Banner—and that Mrs. Narwin suspended him for it. As another consequence, it caused Mrs. Narwin to receive hateful telegrams to stop “attacking kids who express their love of our country” (Avi 140). Philip’s little lie made Mrs. Narwin want to take a break from teaching. He also loses some of his friends and his crush as a consequence after making a one sided story, one that has a bad image of Mrs. Narwin. Allison calls Philip just to say, “I think what you did was very mean” (Avi 148). She goes on telling Philip on how Mrs. Narwin is a great teacher, and how she really opposed his decision. This is how Philip’s decisions caused serious consequences, not only to him, but to everyone around

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