Sometimes you just have to do things that you don't want to do, which is exactly what happens to Vera in Please Ignore Vera Dietz after her former friend Charlie dies. Vera knows that it's her responsibility to clear Charlie's name and let the authorities know she saw Jenny Flick setting fire to the pet store, not Charlie, but she has to wrestle for a while with whether she feels called to honor this duty. Other characters are affected by duty, too, whether it's Ken raising Vera all by himself or Vera's mom running from the responsibility of being a parent.
Questions About Duty
- Why does Vera's mom eschew her duty as a mother and leave her whole family behind?
- How does Vera feel about the fact that Charlie expects her to clear his name after his death?
- What does Vera's dad do to try to be a good father and example? Does it work?
Chew on This
At the beginning of the book, Vera sees her responsibility to clear Charlie's name as just another terrible thing that he's doing to her, but by the end, doing so helps her to come to terms with his death and achieve peace.
Vera's dad always says that they should just ignore what is going on in other people's lives (like with the Kahns). In the end, however, they all see the repercussions of turning the other way when something bad is happening right in front of them.