Flipped

Chapters 1 and 2 of Flipped consist almost exclusively of interior monologue, first from Bryce, who speaks directly to the reader, and then from Juli, as they retell the history of their relationship up to the start of last year (the beginning of junior high and seventh grade). The inclusion of a small amount of dialogue flavors the chapters and helps to indirectly characterize Bryce’s parents and Juli’s mother, but the focus is mainly on Bryce’s and Juli’s differing recollections of the same events over the first five years since they met. While Bryce paints a clear picture of Juli as a hanging nuisance who is unafraid to show her feelings from second to fifth grade, Juli shows no evidence of thinking about her actions as nuisance-like. Irony hits the reader again and again as they read Juli’s version of events and compare them to Bryce’s: Juli thinks Bryce held her hand intentionally; she is convinced Bryce wanted to kiss her the day they met; she knows that he silently invoked her help with the Shelly situation by looking back over his shoulder at her; she doesn’t realize he knows she sniffs him; and she doesn’t have a clue that asking her to have lunch together is the last thing on Bryce’s mind.

Not only are young Bryce and young Juli unaware of the other’s true thoughts and feelings, but the junior high versions of themselves have no inkling either. They both demonstrate a straightforward, confident tone in their retellings, each offering a perspective on events that could not be anything but the one truth. Bryce, in particular, addresses the reader as his “friend,” presuming that his audience is a sympathetic confidante instead of an impartial observer. Their prideful confidence in their memories and actions sets the stage for character growth throughout the story; hubris usually goes before a fall. With that downfall usually comes the understanding and newfound humility that makes coming-of-age possible.

Through these first two chapters, the reader assimilates an early picture of each main character. Bryce’s attribute of “diving under” shows his philosophical understanding of (and affinity for) avoidance tactics to de-escalate confrontation; as a chapter title, the concept of “Diving Under” also represents how he spends “more than half a decade” (1) of school days trying to keep away from Juli’s influence. Notably, on moving day, Bryce “dives” (3) behind his mother on the porch to distance from Juli and avoid her sudden and intense appearance in his life; that moment foreshadows the passive way in which he will try to deal with her for years. Bryce’s one try at a more active anti-Juli plot goes alarmingly wrong when seemingly “delicate” Shelly Stalls fights Juli for him, and the drama sends Bryce (who ironically sought only serenity with the ploy) literally and figuratively running away.

Juli is the opposite of Bryce in terms of low-key personality, both in her young-Juli actions and recalled feelings and her now-Juli tone of emotional intensity. She wholeheartedly sees herself as Bryce’s savior: She jumps into the moving van to help since it is clear that the workload of boxes will kill him; she throws herself headlong into an attack on Shelly Stalls, as it is obvious that Bryce cannot help himself; she cheats at spelling to save Bryce the panic and stress of lunch detention. By sixth grade, Juli’s outer behavior tames in comparison to her actions in early elementary school, but the internal emotions driving her obsession with Bryce show she currently is still completely “flipped” over him.