49 pages • 1 hour read
Lincoln PeirceBig Nate: In a Class by Himself
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary
Nate decides to skip school, only to realize that skipping is impossible due to “The Machine”: “The Machine watches you. It knows your every move. And if you’re not where you’re supposed to be, the Machine tracks you down” (38). The Machine keeps tabs on the students of P.S. 38 in various ways. First, there is the seating chart. Nate claims teachers do not care about students’ names; they use the seating chart only to ensure students are at their desks. Second, the attendance sheet easily shows teachers when a student is absent. Third, there are the classroom helpers. Nate compares teachers to queen bees and certain students (particularly Gina) to drones. Gina takes the attendance sheet to the front office, where the fourth piece of The Machine lurks: the school secretary. The secretary, Mrs. Shipulski, tracks the attendance and calls parents whose students are marked absent. Therefore, if Nate skips, he will face more significant consequences than just summer school. Nate wonders if he risks suspension, expulsion, or even military school.
As skipping is too risky, Nate decides he needs an excused absence instead. This requires a note from Nate’s father, but Nate decides he can handle that. Nate tries multiple times to forge a note close to his father’s signature. Finally, he gets something close enough but remembers, belatedly, that forging is a crime and wonders if he could be arrested. Nate is rethinking his action plan when Francis comes up behind him and asks what Nate is doing. Nate explains that he was forging a note to avoid the social studies test. Francis tells Nate that there is no social studies test; Francis studies the book to improve his mind. Nate revels in relief until Francis says he wishes they were having a test because he enjoys Mrs. Godfrey’s essay questions. Unable to take Francis’s geekiness, Nate hits his friend on the back of the head with a notebook. Nate hears the first bell and heads to school, no longer feeling a sick sense of anxiety. He hums to himself, thinking the day is looking up, when Francis throws a book at the back of Nate’s head, saying, “Gotcha back” (54).
Chapter 4 Summary
Francis’s hit knocked Nate flat on the ground. Teddy, Nate’s other best friend, asks Nate if he is trying to do a push-up. Nate ignores him, claiming Teddy always tells terrible jokes. Nate recalls the first time he met Teddy. In sixth grade, Teddy entered P.S. 38 midyear, and Nate was assigned as his guide. Feeling anxious in the new school, Teddy barely spoke the entire day, which made Nate unsure of Teddy. This uneasiness lasted until the last period, science class. Nate and Teddy teamed up to dissect a squid. Teddy took the squid, dangled it from his nose like snot, and asked for a tissue, which Nate found hilarious. Both boys started laughing, with Teddy sounding like a “crazed llama.” Feeding off each other, the boys laughed so hard they dropped their squid on the floor. Another student, Mary Ellen Popowski, stepped on it, making them laugh harder. Then Mr. Galvin intervened and made the boys clean the squid and apologize to Mary Ellen. Despite the apology, Mary Ellen complained that her shoes smelled like squid. Nate told her that it might be an improvement and had to apologize again. Both boys had detention for two weeks, which solidified their friendship: “You get in trouble that bad with somebody, and it changes the way you think about him,” Nate explains (60).
With the flashback over, Teddy challenges Francis and Nate in a race to the flagpole. Nate pulls ahead, turns around, and runs into Principal Nichols, knocking him down. Nate worries because Principal Nichols is strict about discipline and particularly hates horseplay. Instead, Principal Nichols stands and apologizes for not looking where he was going. Principal Nichols asks if Nate is ok. Relieved, Nate says he is unhurt because the principal is “like a giant airbag” (63). While trying to explain his meaning less insultingly, Nate finds multiple ways to call the principal fat instead. Principal Nichols tells him to move along, and Nate escapes without punishment.
When the boys open their lockers, Nate’s practically explodes in a mass of papers, wrappers, and other unidentified detritus. Nate realizes he does not have his lunch. Teddy offers to share his lunch of leftover Chinese food and throws Nate a fortune cookie. Concerned, Nate explains his past experiences with fortune cookies. He has a comic dedicated to a past fortune that he did not understand and felt was a rip-off. Still, he opens the cookie only to be shocked and excited. His fortune says, “Today, you will surpass all others” (69).
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
These chapters start with Nate desperately trying to take control of his life, which he feels is spiraling unchecked, foregrounding the theme of Fate Versus Self-Determination. He has no acceptable choices, which makes the trajectory of events feel like fate. If Nate goes to school, he will fail the test and must attend summer school. If he skips school, The Machine will report him, and he may get suspended, expelled, or sent to military school. In Nate’s mind, his only choice is to skip school and forge a note from his father to excuse his absence. Forging an excuse note feels like self-determination to Nate. Peirce uses Nate’s overactive imagination and tendency toward hyperbole to make this section humorous, but Nate is genuinely afraid and has no one to ask for help. While most of his fears are imagined, that does not make them less real to Nate. It is concerning that Nate does not have any authority figure he can trust.
This section also elaborates on the Expectations Versus Reality theme. Nate’s imagined consequences for skipping school are ridiculous. Suspending or expelling a student for trying to get out of school is inappropriate. Military school is over the top. Nate has no idea what a realistic consequence would be, so he lets his imagination take over. Unfortunately, Nate’s imagination tends to exaggerate. Nate’s understanding of The Machine is also very far from reality. Nate, who always views himself as the victim, believes The Machine exists only to get students into trouble. The reality is that these systems exist to ensure student safety. Nate’s interaction with Principal Nichols also plays with expectations. Principal Nichols is known for being strict but does not punish Nate in any way, even after Nate unintentionally insults him. Nate’s understanding of the world around him is extremely limited, so his expectations are disparate from reality. The author also plays with the reader’s expectations in this section. Peirce frames the beginning of this story so that it seems the central conflict is how Nate will get out of the social studies test. The reality is that there is no test, which is entirely anticlimactic for the reader.
The most significant focus in this section is on the friendship between the boys, foregrounding the theme of The Reality of Friendship. Nate describes how he became friends with Francis in a paragraph, while his friendship with Teddy takes several pages to explain. This difference in length illustrates how relationships get more complicated as people age. However, both friends are equally important to Nate, being dubbed #1 and #1A in his social circle. The dynamic between the friends is supportive and playful. Francis quickly reassures Nate that there is no social studies test, explaining his reasoning until Nate finally calms down. However, his concern for Nate does not stop him from braining him with a book later in the chapter.
Similarly, Nate trusts that Francis knows everything, and he respects that Francis likes to learn. Nevertheless, when Francis goes too far into the land of geekdom, Nate brings him back to Earth, typically with violence. The friends are supportive of each other, despite their differences. The description of how Nate and Teddy became friends shows how Teddy and Nate have a similar sense of humor. Like Francis, Teddy also supports Nate even while constantly teasing him. When Nate begins to stress that he does not have lunch, Teddy offers some of his. Teddy has no problem teasing Nate when he falls or challenging him to a race to the flagpole. However, when Nate needs help, Teddy is there.
