Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

Ursula’s mother convinces her to come to a modern dance performance with her and Lisa in Manhattan. The family jokes that Ursula only agrees because her mother promised a lunch before the matinee. Thinking of dance and Lisa’s body, Ursula reflects on her own fluctuating weight. She notes she never measures her weight; it is a boring fact. Ursula remembers quitting the swim team, which the reader now learns was based on her embarrassment over her weight, not external pressures.

Ursula never told her parents why she quit the basketball team or how disgusted she was with the treatment of Matt at school, though her mother has since told her how proud she is of Ursula’s actions. Ursula was recently crowded in the hall by the Brewer twins, Muriel and Miriam, daughters of a bigoted local reverend named Ike. The twins confronted her, calling Ursula a big horse and a Jew-girl (though Ursula later tells the reader she is not Jewish), and jeering at her for defending Matt.

It has become common knowledge at school that Ursula stuck up for Matt. Ursula thinks about all these events over lunch before the show; she also notices that Lisa is only picking at her food.