62 pages • 2 hours read
Ben PhilippeField Guide to the North American Teenager
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A 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 8-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “House Party”
Norris’s field guide entry describes his attire, his goal of seeing Aarti, and his optimistic wallet condom.
Judith drops Norris off at the party, instructing him not to drink or do drugs. Judith is happy that Norris has a job and attends parties. The party is at Meredith’s house in a nice neighborhood, and it looks like teen parties in movies.
Norris eats a few hot dogs and chats with someone about their shirt, but he mostly struggles to engage with people. He hasn’t seen Aarti or Maddie since arriving. As he formulates a text to tell Maddie he wants out, Aarti appears. She jokes about him texting at a party.
Aarti leads Norris to the basement, where fewer partygoers are. The guy manning the basement bar makes Aarti and Norris drinks. Aarti asks the guy if he’s seen someone. Aarti and Norris sit on the couch facing the basement staircase, which Aarti keeps an eye on. As Norris watches the people around him, he realizes they all have established lives and drama here in Austin. Aarti and Norris banter. Aarti confesses she came to the party to prove she’s not bothered by the drama with Ian and his cheerleader girlfriend.
Ian appears at the top of the staircase, pleading to speak to Aarti. Aarti has been ignoring Ian’s texts. Aarti reminds Ian that he’d promised to break up with his girlfriend for her, but he never did. Aarti resents that Ian has given her a reputation. Aarti goes to talk with Ian privately, telling Norris she’ll be back. Norris feels she’d planned this encounter to make Ian jealous. He feels used and foolish.
Chapter 9 Summary: “High School Flirtations”
Norris’s field guide entry describes awkward behaviors of flirting people and the locations where they can be observed.
Norris waits on the couch. He writes in his journal, which he’s been carrying with him everywhere. He’s been making notes and observations about the things and people he’s encountered in Texas. He’s texted Judith, but she won’t be there for an hour.
Madison finds Norris and playfully mocks him for journaling at a party. She sits next to him and suggests he find something less creepy to do. Norris tells Maddie about Aarti and Ian. Maddie explains that Ian and his girlfriend, Elisa, had a fight, so now he’s pursuing Aarti again. Norris feels that Ian makes his Aarti situation hopeless. Maddie tries to console Norris, explaining that Aarti was really into Ian.
Maddie suddenly leans in and pretends to laugh at something Norris said. Aarti watches from the top of the stairs and smiles at Norris before walking off. Norris is upset she left, but Maddie stresses that Norris needs to play games, or he’ll lose Aarti’s attention. Unhappy, Norris goes after Aarti.
Norris finds Aarti on the front porch. He explains that he and Maddie are just coworkers. Things didn’t go well with Ian, who wants to continue seeing Aarti while staying with Elisa. Ian walks by and insults Aarti. Norris calls after him, insulting him back. Aarti admires that Norris doesn’t care what people think. Norris feels like Aarti is finally seeing him for who he is. Aarti gives Norris her number. Norris texts Maddie, and Maddie congratulates him.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Male Bonding”
Norris’s field guide entry describes sports, awkwardness, and the question of hanging out again.
The next morning, Norris gets up early to hang out with Liam. They are going to an ice rink. Judith is happy Norris has a friend and reminds Norris to be polite. Liam pulls up in a very nice car. Norris and Judith realize Liam’s family is rich. Norris feels self-conscious getting picked up from an apartment. He’s noticed how most of his peers are financially well-off.
When Norris gets in the car, he comments on Liam being rich, creating an awkwardness between them. Liam has top-of-the-line ice skates. Norris and Liam banter for a moment, breaking the tension. Norris learns Liam has many eclectic interests, and hockey is his latest. When they arrive, Norris notices a semicolon tattoo on Liam’s arm.
Norris judges the ice rink’s quality harshly. It’s nothing like what he had in Quebec. Liam enthusiastically slides onto the ice, but he falls. Norris helps Liam get the hang of things. Being on the ice helps Norris temporarily forget about the bad parts of Austin. Liam suggests they do this every week, and Norris agrees.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Hallway Encounters”
Norris’s field guide entry describes archetypes of people seen throughout school halls.
Norris roams the halls, hoping to encounter Aarti. Norris almost gives up, but Aarti finds him. Aarti jokes that he’s predictable and suggests they see a movie on Friday. Norris has a shift at the Bone Yard, but Aarti insists she’ll pick him up after.
The two run into Maddie, who discusses the Bone Yard schedule with Norris. Maddie and Aarti have biology class together, so Aarti asks what to study for their test. Aarti accepts Maddie’s advice but later confides in Norris that Maddie has intentionally misled her about the test materials. Norris doesn’t think Maddie would do that, and he defends Maddie as one of the few people around he likes. Aarti jokingly asks if she should be jealous, and they seal their date for Friday.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Absentee Dads”
Norris’s field guide entry mentions the divorce rate in North America, child support, and broken promises.
After about a month in Austin, Norris finally FaceTimes with his dad, Felix. His previous attempts have failed due to his father’s busy work schedule and new baby. Norris complains about Austin, but Felix tries to make him feel better. Felix has been sending Norris photos of the new baby, but Norris doesn’t think much of them. Judith interrupts, needing help with her laptop.
Felix and Judith exchange uncomfortable words, which Norris makes more awkward with his comments. Before Felix can sign off, Norris asks if he is still welcome to spend the summer at his dad’s house. Felix hesitates, looking off-camera at his new wife. Felix tries to let Norris down gently, but Judith steps in to defend Norris’s feelings. The call ends with Felix saying they’ll see how things go. Judith tries to reassure Norris, but all Norris can think about is how Felix said he wasn’t going away right after the divorce. Norris helps Judith with her laptop.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Dating Advice”
Norris’s field guide entry mentions feeling shame for needing help with his dating game.
With Norris and Aarti’s date approaching, Norris pores over their text exchanges, searching for hidden meanings. He asks Maddie to interpret Aarti’s emojis, but Maddie tells Norris to relax.
Norris and Maddie spend their shift hanging up hundreds of string lights all over the Bone Yard’s indoor and outdoor areas. Maddie’s sister is getting married in a couple of months, and the Bone Yard hosts all McElwee family weddings. Big Jim wants to ensure the lights are in proper order for the big day. Maddie’s family is huge, and every event is a big deal. When they test the lights, everything is illuminated, including Maddie. Norris thinks it’s beautiful. Hearing about Maddie’s family makes Norris miss his father, but he doesn’t say that to Maddie. Instead, he listens as she details all her eccentric aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Aarti is late to pick up Norris, so Maddie gives him some pointers for the first date. Maddie will be spending her evening covering for Patrick and Meredith, a fellow cheerleader and Maddie’s best friend, so they can hook up in secret. When Norris expresses disdain for Patrick, Maddie confesses that she used to date him and that he was good to her. Norris is doubtful, but Maddie insists that people can be different one on one than in groups. She uses Norris as an example, saying most people think of him as having “a chip on his shoulder” (136). Maddie and Patrick broke up the previous year because Meredith liked Patrick, so Maddie stepped aside. Norris cannot believe that someone would sacrifice their happiness for others like that. He feels Maddie gives too much of herself and steps aside in her own life, but he doesn’t express this to her. Maddie asks Norris to drop it. Aarti arrives, and Maddie is relieved. Norris and Maddie say good night.
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Manic Pixie Dream Girl”
Norris’s field guide entry describes interests in fashion, art, and travel. It also mentions inexperienced teenage boys as prey.
Aarti makes Norris nervous. Norris struggles to classify Aarti based on her many varying interests and phases, but he recognizes patterns of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Aarti drives terribly. She intentionally chose to drive the stick shift vehicle to get practice, but she doesn’t know what she’s doing.
They see an artsy indie movie, Paper Family, about a woman who develops her own unique form of origami. She surrounds herself with her paper creations and dies alone, unknown for her craft. Norris hates it. Aarti explains the movie is sad: The woman never found other people like her because she never bothered to look for them. Norris sees it differently; he feels the woman was happy alone and died with no regrets. Aarti believes people aren’t meant to be happy alone. She theorizes that the woman pushed people away and was miserable.
Aarti and Norris discuss spring break. Norris is excited to hang out with Eric. Aarti speculates they’ll be partying the whole time. Norris wonders if she’s considered that going out and partying isn’t the only way to have fun. Instead of saying anything, he kisses her. It’s reciprocated, and Aarti smiles. Norris hopes he kissed well. He's kissed a few girls before but no one like Aarti.
Chapters 8-14 Analysis
In Chapters 8 through 14, Norris continues to journal his observations about life in Austin while deepening his relationship with key characters like Liam, Maddie, and Aarti. These chapters provide more details about these characters’ lives and personalities. Additionally, these chapters introduce several important symbols and motifs and develop the themes of Selfishness Versus Selflessness and The Influence of Stereotypes on Judgment.
The raging house party in Chapter 8 sets several plots in motion while extending the comparisons between Norris’s experiences in Austin and American teen movies. He describes it as “a rerun of The O.C. or some other nineties show with angsty midtwenties models cast as kids” (83). Norris finds himself unable to be at ease or fit in at the party until Aarti comes along and escorts him to the basement where the “less magazine chiseled” crowd resides (86). The basement setting physicalizes Norris’s self-perceived outsider status as he spatially separates himself from the other partygoers. However, Norris’s observation that teen shows cast older, beautiful actors as highschoolers also normalizes his discomfort in the party setting, suggesting that Norris’s feeling of being an “outsider” is because he is a typical, real-life teenager rather than a 20-something model; since Norris defines his high school experience through unrealistic teen movies, his inability to live up to the fanciful expectations they present is inevitable. The party also provides the setting for Norris’s first conversation with Aarti since they met in Chapter 3, and he learns about Aarti’s complicated history with Ian. Maddie and Norris’s relationship also deepens at the party as Maddie’s flirtatiousness foreshadows her true romantic interest in Norris, although she frames her behavior as a ploy to make Aarti jealous.
Norris’s first date with Aarti develops the theme of The Influence of Stereotypes on Judgment and introduces Paper Family as a symbol of Norris’s tendency to push others away. Because of Aarti’s complexity and her eccentric interests, Norris associates her with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, a whimsical, quirky character archetype (mostly used in films) who has a whirlwind romance with a male protagonist to teach him a lesson about himself. By attaching Aarti to the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, Norris puts a certain set of expectations on her and flattens her personality into a one-dimensional fantasy, influencing his judgment of her intentions as the novel progresses. In other words, Norris’s explicit labeling of Aarti as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl reduces his ability to interact with her on a deeper, more human level, foreshadowing later difficulties in their relationship when she doesn’t act as he anticipates she will. The Influence of Stereotypes on Judgment weakens their potential relationship. Aarti’s and Norris’s differing interpretations of the film also illustrate their character differences. Aarti interprets the film as sad because the woman “never found her tribe” and likely “made people close to her leave” (144, 145). Aarti believes that “being alone is an unnatural state” (145). Norris, however, believes that “[s]he might have been really happy alone” (145). Aarti and Norris’s different viewpoints symbolize the way Norris sees his loneliness versus the way others interpret it, creating parallels between Norris and the woman in the film.
While Norris limits his ability to truly know Aarti by reducing her to a stereotype, his relationships with Liam and Maddie deepen, illustrating his growing ability to move beyond predetermined tropes and interact with peers on equal footing. However, his sardonic commentary continues to challenge these new connections, developing the theme of The Impact of Words. Norris gets to know Liam in Chapter 10 when the two get together to ice skate for the first time. There is immediate tension when Norris notices that Liam drives a very nice car and assesses that Liam is rich. The difference in socioeconomic class between the two boys is familiar territory for Norris, but the snarky observation he makes about Liam’s money creates momentary tension. Despite this, the boys move past the tension, and Norris experiences his first true happiness in Austin on the ice with his new friend. Norris also gets to know Maddie in these chapters. Maddie proves vital to Norris’s success with Aarti in Chapters 9 and 13, and the time Maddie and Norris spend together allows Norris to get to know her better. When Maddie reveals that she stepped aside from her relationship with Patrick so Meredith could pursue him, Norris observes that Maddie “seem[s] to take the back seat in her own life” and compares it to “his very healthy focus on his own life” (137). Maddie’s selflessness compared to Norris, who is mostly out for himself, develops the theme of Selfishness Versus Selflessness; Norris believes Maddie’s selfless acts have come at the expense of her own experiences.
Finally, these chapters give context to the snarky journal entries at the beginning of each chapter. Chapter 9 reveals that Norris has begun writing in his journal regularly and that it has “become his own personal field guide, a spot for his observations of everything and everyone that had crossed his path since arriving in Texas” (94). The entries at the beginning of each chapter are Norris’s field guide observations about each person and place he’s encountered. The remarks Norris makes about the stereotypical personalities of jocks, cheerleaders, loners, and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl develop Norris’s field guide as a symbol of the Influence of Stereotypes on Judgment. Norris’s titular field guide is a significant part of his time in Austin, and he keeps it on him wherever he goes, symbolizing his continued judgment of people.
