31 pages • 1 hour read
Beverly ClearyMuggie Maggie
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Learning From Failure
As protagonist Maggie Schultz stubbornly avoids the daunting task of cursive writing, Cleary highlights the importance of learning from, and rising above, one’s failures. Maggie, originally not seeing her obstinacy as a shortcoming, is proud of her refusal to learn something that she finds outdated and not useful. However, learning that she is disappointing those around her, coupled with her inability to read her teacher’s private messages, causes Maggie to come to terms with the fact that she should not have resisted learning cursive and that it is indeed helpful.
Determined to assert her independence and resist her parents’ and teacher’s authority, Maggie rarely practices cursive writing and does not take her lessons seriously. Maggie’s intelligence and academic success in other subjects lead her to believe that she is immune to failure. While she knows that her stubbornness is frustrating to her parents and teachers, she does not think that it reflects poorly on her talent or intelligence. When Mrs. Leeper expresses her concerns about Maggie’s failure to write in cursive, Maggie simply thinks, “Maybe no one had told Mrs. Leeper how Gifted and Talented she was” (22). Maggie’s resistance to practicing this new skill soon has consequences, and she begins to fail where her classmates are succeeding.
Confident in her giftedness and natural talent, Maggie is quite surprised to realize that she cannot competently write or read in cursive—even when she tries. For instance, when Mrs. Leeper writes flawed cursive on the board, Maggie cannot identify the mistakes or read the funny words. This embarrassment is a significant turning point for Maggie, who realizes that she is the most incompetent cursive reader in her class. Another notable failure is when Maggie accidentally spells her name wrong, drawing the attention of her teacher and classmates. Mrs. Leeper tells her, “Take your paper home and do it over. […] Your name is not Muggie” (33).
These failures are uncomfortable experiences for Maggie, but they help her realize that without effort and cooperation, she cannot master skills such as cursive writing nor show off her intelligence. In the end, Maggie overcomes her failures through hard work and being humbled by her experience as the “Message Monitor,” changing her attitude toward her schoolwork. Maggie learns not to commit herself to refusing to try something new, and she understands the value that learning can bring, even if she doesn’t see it right away. Moving forward, Maggie knows that she does not want to repeat this experience, and she grows beyond her former, self-imposed limitation.
The Influence of Peer Relationships on Children
While she is good at keeping it a secret, Maggie cares deeply about her reputation and is sensitive to criticism. This is especially true of her relationship with her friends and peers at school. Over the course of the story, Maggie tries to maintain her reputation as an intelligent, gifted student, all while refusing to do the cursive work that the rest of the third grade is working on. Eventually, the influence of her peers wears on Maggie, who is embarrassed by her incompetence in cursive. Cleary emphasizes the impact that Maggie’s friends and classmates have on her confidence and her perspective, highlighting the social influence, positive or negative, that children often have on one another.
While Maggie does not mind that “the whole third grade [i]s interested in her revolt” (29), she doesn’t like the rumor that she’s too incompetent to write in cursive. This rumor is made worse by her classmates Courtney and Kelly’s assertions that she is “acting dumb” and childish. Even her closest friend, Jo Ann, doubts Maggie’s ability to write cursive, something that Maggie finds very upsetting. While this peer pressure takes a toll on Maggie, she is also wary of seeming weak by backing down. To back down, she must admit that she was wrong, which means being vulnerable around her peers. Maggie becomes stuck in this limbo, unable to back out of her decision to avoid cursive and unable to show others that she is, in fact, smart enough to learn it. While some of her peers are concerned for her, others share insults with one another, and Maggie dislikes how this attention makes her feel, though she is unsure of how to recover socially.
Cleary highlights a different aspect of peer influence when Maggie compromises on her decision by practicing her own signature in cursive. This goes wrong, however, when Maggie misspells her own name, writing “Muggie” instead. This simple mistake earns her yet more attention from her peers, who now dub her “Muggie Maggie.” While before, the hurtful comments were more indirect, they are now being directly hurled at Maggie, who is upset by this negative attention from her classmates. Cleary suggests that Maggie’s stubbornness is a flaw that harms her more than helps her, as there is little she can do to stand up for herself when she doesn’t have firm, logical reasoning for her refusal. The realistic social context of Maggie’s classroom, complete with peer influence, helps the reader sympathize with Maggie and relate to her experience as she faces her dilemma of being true to her rebellion or fitting in and impressing her classmates.
Children’s Expressions of Independence
While many children spend their younger years seeking the approval of adults, this desire for approval is sometimes overtaken by a need for autonomy as children age. Maggie is stubborn and intelligent, finding herself questioning the adults around her. However, she also seeks approval, as becomes increasingly apparent when disapproval is all she receives from the adults in her life. Maggie therefore walks a difficult line of attempting to assert herself while still pleasing her parents and authority figures. By showing Maggie’s earnest attempts to resist her parents’ and teacher’s rules, Cleary highlights the ways in which young children begin to push back against authority and express their own feelings and ideas.
The author uses Maggie’s inner thoughts, words, and actions to show her wariness of authority and desire for independence throughout the novel. For instance, Maggie questions her teacher’s judgment, feeling “doubtful” about Mrs. Leeper’s prediction that they will have a happy year. When her father urges her to work hard at school and obey her teacher, this only makes Maggie more resentful of his authority, and she becomes more committed to her rebellion. Similarly, Maggie resents her mother’s attempts to persuade her with positivity: “‘I’m sure you’ll enjoy cursive once you start,’ said Mrs. Schultz in that brisk, positive way that always made Maggie feel contrary” (8). Maggie dislikes feeling manipulated or controlled, and she begins to feel that the authoritative nature of adults is a personal attack against her feelings and beliefs.
Maggie’s desire for independence is only encouraged by her feeling that the grown-ups in her life are overly critical of her. She likes her father’s secretary, Ms. Madden, because she is “the only grownup who, Maggie fe[els], d[oes] not pick on her” (36). At school, Maggie resents her teacher, Mrs. Leeper, for criticizing her work. Maggie passively resists her teaching by doodling and making excuses. Her desire for independence is part of what motivates her to become the “Message Monitor,” which allows her to leave class on her own. By the end of the story, Maggie has finally complied with her parents’ and teacher’s wish for her to learn cursive—but she still retains her autonomy. Maggie learns cursive for herself, not for anyone else—even when she realizes that she has been manipulated into doing so, she still receives the praise that she has been craving all along. This soothes her embarrassment and helps her through the conflict emotionally unscathed, helping her to retain her sense of independence.
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By Beverly Cleary
