Synopsis of Big Mouth & Ugly Girl: Joyce Carol Oates

Big Mouth & Ugly Girl. 0-06-623756-4. Joyce Carol Oates. 2002. Ages 13-17. Suburban youth. Contemporary realistic fiction.

Big Mouth, Matt Donaghy, and Ugly Girl, Ursula Riggs, have gone to the same school not knowing each other for years. But when Matt is accused of threatening to blow up the school, Ursula must come to his aid. Matt is joking around in the lunchroom about his play not winning the school competition, and he sarcastically asks what he can do, blow up the school? Misinterpreted by the Brewer sisters, they report him to their father and the principal. Matt is suspended, his friends stop talking to him, and his whole life changes. Ursula calls herself Ugly Girl because she is somewhat of social outcast who doesn’t even feel a part of her own family. But she knows the difference between right and wrong, and Ursula stands up for Matt, saying that she overheard him and everyone knew he was joking, and the investigation against Matt is dropped. Nothing goes back to normal though, and Matt is treated like a heretic. Eventually Matt and Ursula develop an unconventional relationship, both drawn to each other’s humor and the fact that they feel like outsiders. Matt’s parents decide to sue the school for defamation of character (later dropped), Matt’s dog, Pumpkin is kidnapped (and returned safely), and another bomb scare threatens Matt’s emotional sanity. Eventually we learn that Reverend Brewer, the racist unforgiving father of the girls who reported Matt in the first place, has called in the second bomb threat, and things finally start turning around for Matt. Despite the ups and downs of their relationship, Matt and Ursula grow stronger, and develop into more than just friends at the end.

Big Mouth & Ugly Girl could be used to study the media and its effects on society. Matt’s situation might not have even caused such a terrible problem were it not for the initial news reports of the supposed bomb threat. That, plus word of mouth and people’s perceptions of situations without the truth, can really escalate into something unnecessary.