51 pages • 1 hour read
Judy BlumeBlubber
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1974A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “It’s very foolish to laugh if you don’t know what’s funny in the first place.”
Jill Brenner is a fifth-grader in Mrs. Minish’s class. Her best friend, Tracy Wu, is in a different fifth-grade class. Jill laments that she’s never had a class with Tracy. The students are doing reports on mammals. While a student named Donna talks about horses, the rest of the class is bored. Two girls, Wendy and Caroline, play Tic Tac Toe secretly. Jill daydreams about Halloween, which is just a couple of days away.
After Donna finishes, the next girl to present is Linda. Linda is a little pudgier than the other kids in the class but not the heaviest fifth grader. Linda does her report on whales and focuses on the usefulness of whale blubber. Linda is the last to present for the day. Wendy passes a note to Caroline, who reads it, then passes it to Jill. The note reads, “Blubber is a good name for her” (5). Jill smiles, not because she believes it’s funny but because Wendy is watching. Jill crumples the note and puts it on the corner of her desk.
The boy next to Jill, Robby, grabs the crumpled paper and reads it. Linda mentions that some cultures eat whale blubber. Wendy begins to laugh uncontrollably, causing her to get hiccups. Robby begins to laugh too. The laughter is infectious, and the whole class joins in, aside from Linda. Mrs. Minish asks what’s going on and tells Wendy to get water for her hiccups. Wendy’s note has made it around the classroom. Jill struggles to contain her laughter. Mrs. Minish asks Jill what’s funny, but Jill says she doesn’t know. Mrs. Minish is skeptical, telling Jill she’s “foolish” for laughing if she doesn’t know why. Mrs. Minish threatens Jill with a visit to the office, but Jill vows to control herself.
On the bus, Jill sits with Tracy, and Wendy and Caroline sit across the aisle. Linda gets on the bus, and Wendy shouts, “Here comes Blubber” (9). The rest of the bus greets Linda as Blubber. Robby throws a paper airplane, and Wendy retrieves it, writing mean things and then throwing it at Linda. The girls in the back begin singing a taunt about blubber. Two boys shoot spitballs at Linda. One boy, Irwin, steals Linda’s jacket, saying she won’t need it because she has blubber. The kids on the bus play keep-away with the jacket. Despite the driver's warning to behave, the kids sing and taunt Linda until her bus stop. Linda picks the spitballs out of her hair but otherwise doesn’t react to the taunting. When the bus stops, Wendy throws Linda’s jacket to Jill. Wendy and Caroline get off, calling Linda Blubber one last time. Linda approaches Jill, nearly in tears. Jill gives Linda her jacket. Linda gets off the bus and runs away from Wendy and Caroline, who are still laughing.
Chapter 2 Summary: “That’s what you’re going to be for Halloween?”
After school, Jill returns home to change before going to Tracy’s house across the street to exchange stamps. They both have impressive stamp collections, and Jill has vowed to her father not to bite her nails to get a trip to an impressive stamp store later in the year. Jill’s brother, Kenny, greets her at the door, relaying facts from his world records book. Jill pretends to not care, otherwise, Kenny will bother her with facts all day. Their housekeeper, Mrs. Sandmeier, speaks to them in French. Jill responds in English, even though she’s supposed to be learning French. She looks after Kenny and Jill in the afternoons. She is in her late fifties, and she still beats the kids in basketball.
Tracy’s family has many cats, dogs, and chickens. After feeding the chickens, Jill and Tracy go to Tracy’s room to sort and trade stamps. Tracy shows Jill her Big Bird costume that Tracy’s mom is making. While they work with their stamps, Jill realizes what she wants to be for Halloween but keeps it a secret from Tracy.
Back home, while eating dinner with her family, Jill brings up that she doesn’t want to be a witch like she usually is for Halloween. Kenny asks if he can use the witch costume instead, which their mom agrees to. Jill tells them she wants to be a flenser; no one in her family knows what that is. Jill learned about flensers from Linda’s report on whales. Flensers strip blubber from whales. Jill teases Kenny about not knowing what flensers are. Kenny looks it up in his dictionary and tells the family the definition. Mom and Dad are confused about Jill’s decision, and the family discusses what flensers wear and how Jill could dress like one. After dinner, they play a family game of poker with fake money and carve pumpkins.
Chapter 3 Summary: “And now…for the most original costume of the day…”
The next day, Jill makes her costume from clothes around the house, converting Mom’s old beach hat into a flenser hat and painting her boots gold. Kenny models the witch costume in the mirror, adding goggles and a fake cigar from his previous year’s costume. Jill asks about the goggles, but Kenny doesn’t explain. Kenny tries to relay more facts from his records book, but Jill shuts him down several times.
The following morning is Halloween. Jill puts on her costume for school. Mom is upset that Jill has painted her boots, which were supposed to last all winter. Jill tells Mom that smoking is dangerous, causing Mom to put out her cigarette. When Jill can’t answer whether she used washable paint on her boots, Mom lights another cigarette.
Jill and Tracy meet up before school. Tracy’s mom drives them. Jill explains her costume to Tracy. At school, Wendy is dressed as a queen with a huge crown. She wears a dead animal as a scarf, admitting that it was her grandmother’s and they didn’t know about ecology back then. Donna is dressed as a jockey. Most of the rest of the class is dressed as a bum or runaway, which is the popular costume for the year. Jill thinks she’ll win the most original costume at their Halloween school event.
As the students are led to the auditorium, Linda, who’s wearing a long red cape, asks Jill about her costume. She wonders if Jill got the idea from her report. Mrs. Minish scolds them for talking. Once they’re seated in the auditorium, Jill asks Linda what she’s supposed to be. Linda won’t tell, so Jill guesses she’s Little Red Riding Hood. Linda says she isn’t, but Jill tells Wendy that Linda is Little Red Riding Hood anyway. Wendy warns Linda to watch out for the Big Bad Wolf.
While singing the national anthem, Wendy and Jill notice Linda’s gray tooth and joke about it. The classes take turns parading across the stage to a panel of volunteer parents. There are prizes for the most beautiful and the most original costumes. Tracy wins the most beautiful costume. Jill is sure she’ll win the most original, but a sixth-grade boy dressed as a fried egg wins instead. Jill is disappointed that she painted her boots for nothing.
Chapter 4 Summary: “What’s the magic word?”
After the school’s Halloween event, everyone is back in their classrooms. Jill is given back a paper with every problem marked wrong. Mrs. Minish explains that Jill didn’t write her problems correctly despite getting all the answers correct, explaining that Jill is being taught to think a certain way. Jill argues that there is more than one way to think. Mrs. Minish tells Jill to take the assignment home and do it again.
The class is allowed to visit the bathroom before lunch. In the Girls’ Room, Jill complains to Wendy and Caroline about Mrs. Minish. Caroline says she got a hundred, and Wendy adds that she let Caroline copy her paper. Jill complains about the fried egg costume beating hers, calling the judges stupid. Caroline says her aunt was a judge. Jill apologizes, but Caroline agrees that her aunt is stupid, according to her mom.
When most of the girls have left the bathroom, Linda comes out of a stall. Wendy and Caroline begin to call her Blubber and ask what’s under her cape. They joke about Linda having blubber, and Wendy hums the same taunting song from the bus. Linda tells them to stay away from her. Wendy says she just wants to see what’s under her cape. Linda warns them not to touch her. Wendy says that’s Jill’s job since Jill is the flenser. Caroline and Wendy block Linda in the bathroom and tell Jill to strip Linda. Caroline and Wendy grab Linda, joking about how she’ll have to walk around in her “blubbery birthday suit” (39). Wendy commands Jill to do her job as a flenser. Jill pulls off Linda’s cape. Wendy tells Jill to strip her more and pulls up Linda’s skirt. They make fun of Linda’s floral underwear. Linda tries to escape, but Caroline grabs her shirt, popping the buttons. Caroline laughs at Linda’s undershirt.
Linda starts to cry. Wendy comments that “Blubber’s blubbering” (39). Linda begs them to stop. Jill asks for the magic word. Linda says please. Jill says she won’t strip Linda for knowing the magic word. Wendy adds that Linda must obey the queen, asking if Linda gets it. Linda catches her breath, and Wendy demands Linda curtsy. Linda smooths her clothes down, so Wendy again demands Linda curtsy. Linda obeys, and Wendy tells Linda to kiss her foot. Linda tries to refuse, but Jill says Blubber has to obey the queen. Linda kisses Wendy’s foot. Wendy tells Linda to stop her stupid crying.
They give Linda her cape back and tell her they’ll do worse next time if she tells anyone about this. Wendy smiles at Jill, who isn’t worried about Linda telling on them because “everybody knows you don’t cross Wendy” (41).
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
Chapters 1-4 introduce several main themes and characterize the important players in this complex social hierarchy of Mrs. Minish’s fifth-grade class. The narration is first-person through the eyes of Jill Brenner, who is not the instigator of the bullying but also does not actively work to stop it. Jill observes and eventually becomes a part of the ridicule Linda faces from Wendy, Caroline, and the rest of the class.
In Chapter 1, Jill, although not mean-spirited, is equally critical about the people around her. Tracy describes Jill as “really tough on people” (1), but Jill keeps her thoughts to herself because she has seemingly no desire to bully those around her. Jill complains about Mrs. Minish and criticizes Donna’s “thing about horses” (2), adding that she “smells like a horse” (3). Jill’s internal monologue comments on how Linda is “the pudgiest girl in our class but not in our grade” (5), admitting that Linda “can’t compare” to some of the heavier kids in their grade. Jill adds that “Linda’s head is shaped like a potato” (5). Though Jill’s thoughts about her peers can be unnecessarily critical, she does not express these thoughts aloud.
Jill has never had a class with Tracy, which would imply that Jill has made less significant friendships with the people within her class to maintain a social life. This is seen when Jill reads Wendy’s note about Linda and smiles. Jill admits she smiled “because Wendy was watching me” (5). Jill’s reaction to the note reveals several things about Jill and her dynamic with Wendy. The first is that Jill wants Wendy to like her. Jill does not want to upset Wendy by reacting in a way that isn’t expected of her. The second thing this moment reveals is that Jill is not interested in joining in on the bullying. Instead of passing the note along, Jill crumples it and sets it aside on her desk to deal with later. Jill does not anticipate Robby stealing the note and continuing to pass it around the class.
The consequences of this note only just begin in Chapter 1 as the bullying and ridicule Linda face escalate in a matter of minutes. Linda goes from being laughed at in class to being actively called Blubber on the bus to being targeted with spitballs, keep-away, and singing chants by the time she gets off the bus. The speedy escalation of the bullying contributes to the themes of peer pressure and the cruelty of children. Once Wendy calls Linda Blubber in front of the rest of the bus, the rest of the kids join in. Wendy did not pressure anyone to call Linda Blubber, but the social dynamics and implicit power Wendy holds over her peers steer the situation into all-out bullying. As Jill implied while reading the note, no one wants to mess with Wendy or cross her in any way.
This power that Wendy holds is emphasized in Chapter 4, when, after brutally humiliating and threatening Linda in the restroom, Wendy tells Linda not to tell anyone about it. Jill narrates, “Everybody knows you don’t cross Wendy” (41). After two chapters focused more on Jill’s preparation for Halloween and her healthy, normal social dynamic with Tracy, Chapter 4 returns to the school setting to shift the focus back to the bullying of Linda and the power Wendy holds. Wendy’s queen costume is symbolic of her Queen Bee role among her peers. Jill goes along with this dynamic, aware of the consequences that she might face if she refuses. Jill’s explanation about crossing Wendy explains not just Linda’s compliance but also Jill’s. At the end of Chapter 1, Jill gives Linda her jacket back, recognizing the pain that the bullying has caused Linda, but in Chapter 4, at the insistence of Wendy and Caroline, Jill actively participates in the stripping and humiliation that the girls inflict on Linda. Though Jill is smart enough to recognize the morality of her situation, she is swept up in the group dynamic and becomes a bully herself to avoid her own onslaught of ridicule.
The complex social dynamics illustrated in these first four chapters, particularly Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, show the motivation behind Jill’s participation in Linda’s torment: fear. This undertone shows how Jill understands what they are doing to Linda and explains her lack of intervening and willingness to participate.
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