Jack’s perspective starts off with a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery. “Now here is my secret. It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” “How does this tie in with Jack’s perspective and the rest of the story?” You ask? Well, near the beginning of the section, Jack tells us readers that he has known Auggie for quite a long time. When Mr.Tushman (Beacher prep’s principal) asks Jack to be friends with Auggie, Jack doesn’t want to. He does this  because he thinks people will laugh at him, Auggie or he wants to stay popular?  His mother convinces him to hang out with Auggie that night and he does. After a few weeks, Jack “Sees with his heart”, he knows that he likes Auggie and wants to be August’s friend. He also understands what his heart wants, which is to be with Auggie. I also think that he changes his mind because he knows it’s going to be difficult for Auggie to make friends, and that he needed someone to be there for him.

Fast forward to Halloween in the home room and Auggie sees Jack in his costume, talking to the two Maxes and Julian. Jack thought Auggie was going to dress up as a “Star Wars” character, but instead Auggie dresses up as “Bleeding Scream” and sits down next to them. Auggie hears Jack badmouthing about him, quickly runs out of the classroom and starts crying because his friend was talking badly about him and that’s not what friends do. After that incident, Auggie and Jack drift away from each other and Auggie finds a new friend, Summer. Auggie thinks that Jack cares more about popularity than him. Soon, Summer gives Jack a hint about why Auggie’s so mad at him.

Jack finds Auggie and apologizes to him. Jack tells Auggie that he didn’t know what he said and why he said it. He also tells Auggie that he cares more about their friendship then fame. This has a huge impact on the story because the characters make their decisions based around this problem for a some time and this shows that broken bones and broken limbs don’t take long to heal, but broken trust and friendships take much longer to mend. They try to make decisions that don’t hurt each other anymore, but still don’t seem like they aren’t friends anymore. After a while they see with their hearts and understand each other’s feelings.

Why do you think this is so important to the story? I think it’s because there are many emotions throughout the story, and we need to see with our hearts to understand those emotions.

 

-Afnaan