Harriet the Spy

Now that Harriet is being watched closely by her teachers and her parents, she feels completely adrift. Without her beloved notebook to record her thoughts. Harriet has trouble thinking straight and drifts through her classes listlessly. She says:

SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY HAPPENING TO ME. I AM CHANGING. I DON’T FEEL LIKE ME AT ALL. I DON’T EVER LAUGH OR THINK ANYTHING FUNNY. I JUST FEEL MEAN ALL OVER. I WOULD LIKE TO HURT EACH ONE OF THEM IN A SPECIAL WAY THAT WOULD HURT ONLY THEM (241-42).

Harriet makes out a list of very specific ways to inflict pain on each classmate, such as pinching them, cutting off their hair, or planting a frog in their desks. Sometimes she focuses on emotional pain, as when she makes her classmate Rachel, whose father doesn’t live with her, cry by saying he would live in her house if he loved her. When Harriet goes home early, she stomps and bangs furniture around to making the cook’s cake fall after the cook calmly explained to her why it was important to be quiet and still during the baking. After the cook threatens to quit and Harriet’s parents demand an explanation for her behavior, she refuses to speak to them.