WONDER Essay

Do you have a little sibling that you love, but always outshines you? If your answer is yes, in Wonder by R.J. Palacio, you can empathise with Olivia Pullman, August’s older sister. The readers really admire Via, and her character helped us to understand the book as a whole. This essay will be explaining how Via is a kind but ignored person in the story that wants to outshine her brother, just once.

Via is a kind and understanding teenager but is constantly underestimated and ignored by her parents. She really loves her family, but she takes things that they do out of context to make it sound like they don’t love her back. This is seen in the play incident where Via snaps at her parents after stating that she doesn’t want August to go to the play she’s performing in. This helped develop the character of Via from someone who just sits back and lets August control everything to someone who will take control of a situation so she gets to spend more time with her mother. We admire her in this situation because it shows her relationship with her family is rocky, but she knows her family loves her and would do anything to make her happy. This situation is reversed when August snaps at Via and his mother about the play. This doesn't mean Via is before her brother, though.

In her parent's list of priorities, August is far beyond Via. She does, however, get the attention she needs from her boyfriend, Justin. Justin started dating Via while they were doing a play together. Justin cares for Via a lot. An example is by stating that she's not an awful person when she says she is in the chapter of Justin's part named 'Bird'. This shows that even though Via doesn't get much love from her family, she still gets love from Justin when she needs it and it develops her character more. An incident later in their relationship that makes us admire them more is after Our Town when Isabelle and Nate, her parents, were congratulating them and Justin complimented her performance.

In Our Town, Miranda was meant to be the actor of Emily, not Via. Miranda and Via had a very rocky relationship with each other since the start of high school, but they both wanted to fix them. Via described Miranda and her other friend Ella leaving her as them 'blasting off'. Miranda and Ella jumped ship to the popular group while Via was left behind. When Miranda got back from summer camp, she made plans with Ella, but not Via. This upset Via. Some of us can relate to Via here, as we watch our friends abandon us for glory. However, they make amends by Via and her parents insisting she come over for dinner.

Via is a very nice character but doesn't get the recognition she deserves. We can understand the book better by reading her version of events and see what it's like to be the sibling of someone who is different.