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.
Symbols & Motifs
Wendy’s Queen Costume
On Halloween, Wendy comes to school in a queen costume, complete with a robe, a crown, and a fur scarf. This costume symbolizes how Wendy resembles the Queen Bee trope among her peers. Wendy has no problem ordering her classmates around and, in Jill’s words, “[acting] like she owns the whole world” (157). Jill stresses Wendy’s power after their incident with Linda in the bathroom, saying, “Everybody knows you don’t cross Wendy” (41).
The queen costume also emboldens Wendy to act out her role as queen while bullying Linda. In the bathroom, Linda refers to herself as “Her Majesty, Queen Wendy” (40) and forces Linda to curtsy and lick her foot. Wendy also orders Jill and Caroline to do her bidding by restraining and stripping Linda. It is clear from how Jill, Caroline, and Linda respond to Wendy that they see her as a powerful person they do not wish to upset. This is hinted early on when Jill smiles at Wendy’s letter about Linda “because Wendy was watching me” (5).
Wendy’s role as queen persists throughout most of the book, but by the final chapter, Wendy and Caroline have broken up as friends, and Wendy has moved on to Laurie. This broken power duo shows how the classroom dynamic is shifting from having Wendy as a Queen Bee figure.
Food
Food is a persistent motif throughout the book, with lunchtime being one of the most dramatic times of day for Jill, Linda, Wendy, and Caroline. The motif of food helps to communicate the theme of the inevitable cruelty of kids by showing how a central part of daily life can be weaponized against the person eating.
Beginning in Chapter 6, lunchtime in Mrs. Minish’s class becomes a time of chaos and lawlessness, with Wendy acting as the driving force behind it all. Because the kids are unsupervised, Wendy, Caroline, and Jill are free to torment Linda. Wendy takes aim at Linda’s lunch, consisting of a sandwich, an apple, and a pack of Hostess cupcakes. Wendy tells Linda she’s “going to turn into a real whale” (62) if she keeps eating like this. Wendy, Caroline, and Jill mock Linda for chewing with her mouth open and for having cupcakes. When Linda tries to throw away her cupcakes, Wendy grabs them and throws them around the room, where they are eventually claimed and eaten by other boys in the class. Not satisfied with that, Wendy then targets Linda’s apple, stealing it and using it as a prop to play around with, then leaving it on the ground, so Linda gets in trouble.
Recognizing how her food was used against her, Linda changes her diet. The next lunch, she shows up with celery, cheese, and crackers. Still, Wendy, Caroline, and Jill make fun of Linda for dieting, with Wendy going as far as to force Linda to say that her name will always be Blubber. This instance shows that the girls' cruelty is not limited in scope and is an inevitability regardless of circumstances. This idea is reinforced when Jill becomes Wendy’s target. Jill, who is underweight and a picky eater, is also mocked for her food choices. Wendy and Caroline tell the class that Baby Brenner—Jill’s nickname—“can’t chew big people’s food yet,” so she “eats only mushy-gushy foods like peanut butter” (162). Despite Jill and Linda having opposite body types and very different eating habits, they are both mocked for their lunches by Wendy. Wendy’s indiscriminate bullying contributes to the theme of the inevitable cruelty of kids.
Whales
From the very beginning of the book, whales are an important symbol of Linda’s innocence and meekness. Like whales, Linda is peaceful and has never bothered or provoked anyone in Mrs. Minish’s class. Still, like whales, Linda is targeted for her “blubber.” Throughout the book, Linda struggles to overcome the treatment she receives from Wendy, Caroline, and Jill. This symbolism is further evident when Jill decides to be a flenser for Halloween. While dressed as a flenser, Jill is instructed by Wendy to strip Linda’s clothes off. Though they only manage to pop her shirt buttons and remove her cape, Linda is left crying by this encounter, showing the harm Jill, as a flenser, has done to Linda, who is the whale in this situation.
At Warren Winkler’s bar mitzvah, Jill and Kenny must share a table with Linda. Jill homes in on her usual insults of Linda, calling her a whale when she questions Jill’s picky eating. Kenny comes to Linda’s defense, saying, “Whales are lovable animals” (133). At the bar mitzvah lunch, Kenny and Linda get along well. Afterward, Kenny tells his family how great he thinks Linda is, which shows Linda’s lovable nature, similar to how Kenny describes whales.
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By Judy Blume
