Wonder Theme of Identity

The Who sum up the question best with "Who Are You?"—and they really want to know. So do we.

• Are you the same person you are at home as you are at school?
• Are you different as a teenager than you were as a little kid? What's changed?
• Are there things only your family knows about you?
• What do you wish more people knew about you?
• What aspects of your identity do you broadcast to the world?

Identity is always a big deal in coming-of-age stories, and Wonder is no exception. As August starts middle school, he has to figure out how to bridge the gap between what kind of person he feels like (ordinary), and what kind of person the world sees him as (anything but ordinary). How will he convince the world to see beyond his face?

1. How has Auggie defined himself in younger years, and how does this change as he becomes a regular school kid?
2. What role do masks play in the concealing and revealing of identity?
3. Which aspects of his identity are most important to Auggie? Which elements can he create (or destroy), and which things are unchangeable?
4. What aspects of her identity does Via struggle with throughout Wonder? How about Miranda?

Auggie has to figure out how to be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary.

All the adolescent characters in Wonder are honing their identities, but Summer is the farthest along in the process.