Be Prepared

Vera’s initial experiences at camp further highlight the overarching theme of The Challenges of Adolescence, most notably by demonstrating her continued difficulties in fitting in with her peers. Vera had assumed that being at a camp surrounded by other Russian and Russian American children would allow her to fit in and make friends with ease. What she quickly discovers, however, is that this camp still has its own cliques she must infiltrate and traditions that she must work to understand, suggesting that, in this case, her inability to navigate social situations to a greater extent reflects her adolescence and social awkwardness than her cultural background. Vera meets her bunkmates, who are both named Sasha, one with blonde hair and one with dark hair, and they explain that they’ve been coming to this camp since they were six years old. They begrudgingly allow Vera to tag along with them to dinner the first night, but otherwise don’t seem to care about her. Vera, meanwhile, views them with the same adoration as her peers from back home. Although the Sashas are several years older than her, Vera desperately wants to be their friend.

This section of the graphic novel also addresses The Significance of Culture and Heritage to Identity and reveals the limits of relying on culture and heritage when attempting to be accepted. Her culture creates a divide between her and her school peers, but it is not the only element that contributes to this divide. At camp, where there is the cultural constant, she remains on the outside looking in, much to her frustration. Vera always felt like an outsider because of her Russian heritage, but at ORRA, she is actually less connected to her culture than many of the other campers. Although she can speak Russian well, with a correct accent, she struggles to read the language. She does not know the Russian chants and camp marches that the other campers have memorized, having attended ORRA for many years. The only real similarity that she notices, which she highlights in a letter to her mother, is that she and the other campers have “bad teeth.” Their mouths are full of crowns and fillings, the results of bad dental hygiene growing up in Russia. In this way, Vera closely resembles her fellow Russian and Russian American peers. She appears to conform with the group based on their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. However, there are also ruptures in her cultural identity that make it difficult for her to neatly fit in and that cause some of the other campers to view her with confusion and even openly exclude her. This section continues to emphasize Vera’s differences from those around her, highlighting how she feels as a young girl trying to find a sense of belonging and friendship. Vera views her attempts at friendship in terms of deciphering a code or discovering a method of connection she hasn’t yet attempted. As the graphic novel progresses, Vera’s identity develops and she is less self-sacrificing toward her peers for the sake of connection. This authenticity and self-confidence in the face of her peers is a key element Vera lacks at this point in the novel.

In this section, Vera’s efforts to fit in ultimately require Vera to make choices that she is uncomfortable with. She draws a picture of each of the Sashas to give them as gifts and they immediately ask her to draw additional pictures, most notably of their shared camp crush, Alexei. Vera does not stop to consider the sincerity of their attentions; she simply enjoys being treated kindly by them, so she offers to make the drawings. Vera ignores the warning offered to her by her camp counselor, Natasha, to be wary of friendships that she has to “buy,” still confused about the components or makeup of a true friend. Vera doesn’t view what she is doing as “buying” friends, since there is no money involved, though when Vera offers her friend the whole bag of Skittles from her mother, her inner thoughts stand in contrast to her expression. Contained in rectangular blocks of text, Vera’s actual thoughts show that she does not really want to give away her Skittles. Her first internal reaction is to cry “Nooooo,” though it’s not enough to make her rescind her offer to Sasha. Vera’s desire for acceptance causes her internal conflict, as she finds herself “giving” (of gifts and of herself) more often than she receives. Despite her attempts, her generosity does not result in friendship, as the rest of the girls ostracize her without a second thought after she accidentally reveals their illicit candy stash.