After hearing Penelope vomiting in the bathroom, Junior learns her secret. She is bulimic. He explains, "...Shes scared all the time, but nobody will let her be scared..."(Alexie 108). Penelope tells Junior this because she feels so much pressure to be perfect. Everyone at Reardan thinks she must have this perfect life because she is popular, smart and gorgeous. Penelope feels so much pressure to be that perfect girl even if sometimes she wants to let out her feelings and step outside her comfort zone. People think she has so many friends but really what she expresses to Junior a different side, "Penelope starts crying, talking about how lonely she is..." (Alexie 108). Even though she is so popular she does not have many true friends and feels as if she must always be perfect to please everyone else. And by being perfect she thinks she must be skinny, which in her mind is being gorgeous. Nobody will let her be herself because they have an expectation of her which she thinks she must be.
I agree completely, Penelope seems like she's perfect and that everything in her life is perfect. When in fact, Penelope feels the complete opposite as stated in the text. "she's scared all the time, but nobody will let her scared because she's pretty and smart and popular." (Alexie,108). Her ego and reputation holds her back from being herself. Having the attributes of pretty, smart, and popular makes her feel scared all the time because she isn’t herself and doesn’t know who to do be or what to do.
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