54 pages • 1 hour read
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Power of Unconventional Wisdom
Dwight Tharp’s Yoda appears out of nowhere to befuddle McQuarrie Middle School’s sixth graders with his oddball wisdom. The students want to believe in him, but they’re not sure they can rely on his advice, which often seems odd or absurd. Trusting Yoda depends on two things: whether his words of wisdom are reliable, and whether they come from him or his puppeteer, Dwight. At first, Yoda’s advice seems “weird” and unexpected. The solution always involves making a sacrifice. This troubles the children, but they quickly discover that the advice works brilliantly.
Kellen Campbell, for example, accidentally gets water on his pants that makes it look like he peed on himself. Yoda’s advice—to get all of his pants wet—at first appears absurd. However, Kellen quickly realizes that uniformly wet clothes will hide the original, embarrassing stain.
Dwight has profound insight into the emotions and psychology of his fellow students. He demonstrates this when, as Yoda, he advises Mike Coley, who tries too hard at softball and always strikes out. He tells Mike to give up comparing himself to other players. This flies in the face of Mike’s deepest want, but soon he understands that the desire itself is what gets in his way. By ceasing to judge himself based on the other boys’ prowess, Mike relaxes and begins to get on base. Yoda’s advice can seem outlandish—but it always proves correct. The price that Quavondo Phan pays to remove the stain on his reputation—to hand out bags of Cheetos to every sixth grader at an assembly and then get punished by the school—is one of the highest imposed by Yoda. For Quavondo, though, it’s worth it, “because almost nobody ever calls me Cheeto Hog anymore!” (73)
Sometimes Yoda’s advice seems silly or pointless, such as when he wants everyone to learn the Twist. It’s not until weeks later during a Fun Night that the children realize the skill comes in handy when the Twist suddenly helps them connect socially with the other kids.
This kind of advice, including Yoda’s prediction about an upcoming pop quiz, might involve some background manipulation. The kids begin to wonder how much of Yoda’s wisdom comes from a supernatural Force or simply from Dwight’s own mind. Harvey Cunningham, who dislikes Dwight, is sure that the Force isn’t involved at all, but this means that Dwight is much smarter than everyone has assumed. Almost nobody likes the boy—he’s widely believed to be “unintelligent,” but it’s hard to deny that Yoda’s sage advice keeps erupting from Dwight’s own mouth. If Dwight is the real Yoda, his intelligence has been hiding in plain sight. Harvey isn’t the only student who struggles with this idea and therefore refuses to trust the Origami puppet.
Whether Dwight is, indeed, the author of Yoda’s advice, it becomes clear that the advice is reliable, if sometimes odd and demanding. Tommy Lomax finally realizes that Yoda is Dwight’s clever way of emerging from his social shell to participate more fully in the social life of the school. For the other students, though, it remains a mystery whether Dwight’s insights come from his own quirky mind or from the Force. For them, it’s a charming puzzle that doesn’t really have to be solved after all.
The Awkwardness of Middle School
Yoda’s involvement with McQuarrie Middle School lays bare the most common problem of adolescence—the intense awkwardness of feeling insecure in social situations. Sixth graders who interact with Yoda struggle with questions about how to get along smoothly with their fellow students. They try to gloss over their mistakes or pretend that their own shyness is simply indifference, but Yoda’s advice tends to force them to re-examine their feelings and live up to a higher standard for themselves.
Cassie accidentally breaks Mr. Stevens’s bust of Shakespeare. At first, she doesn’t know where to turn because she has no friends. She explains this by suggesting that it’s not her fault and that the kids at school simply aren’t worth it: “I just started school here in January and I haven’t found anybody I like to hang around with yet” (48). January, however, was months ago.
Yoda knows what she really needs—friendship. He dares her to sculpt a new Shakespeare bust. She does so using Play-Doh, and the result looks ridiculous but also humorous. She presents it to the teacher, who puts it in a place of honor that both compliments her ingenuity and reminds the other students of her embarrassing mishap. This makes her more human and interesting, which may open doors for her to relax about herself, reach out to others, and form new friendships. Indeed, she later connects with Quavondo.
Yoda suggests that several students take risks. Kellen, he says, should dare to be all wet rather than misunderstood as someone who lost control of his bladder. Later, Yoda chides him for being afraid to tell Rhondella Carrasquilla that he is interested in her when he tries to get her to express interest first: The puppet embarrasses him publicly by telling Rhondella flat-out that Kellen wants to kiss her. Dwight himself takes big, potentially embarrassing risks: He creates a puppet that will help him become more involved in school and communicate with his fellow students. He also tells Caroline Broome that he is interested in her.
Of all the children in the story, the protagonist, Tommy, struggles most with social awkwardness. He really likes Sara Bolt but worries she’ll reject him. He torments himself with doubt, hemming and hawing over the idea of asking her to dance, his mind filled with fears of rejection and humiliation. Yoda assures him that Sara is interested in him. Dwight privately admits to Tommy that she already has asked Yoda about him, so Tommy’s choice should be simple and obvious. Yet still he hesitates.
With surprisingly insightful wisdom, Dwight and Yoda have foreseen all of this. Yoda’s instruction to the students to learn the Twist suddenly pans out when music for the dance gets played during the crucial Fun Night. This helps Tommy realize that he can risk himself—it’s the one dance he knows—and he discovers that his fears are groundless.
Dwight uses Yoda for good, helping his fellow students transcend the limitations of their insecurity (Mike), connect with others (Cassie), and to be brave (Kellen and Tommy). Yoda’s greatest lesson is that kids can transcend social awkwardness by being willing to take risks, pick themselves up when they fail, and reach out to others in the knowledge that they truly are worthy of close friendships.
The Value of Unconventionality
Yoda is known for his wise counsel. The puppeteer, on the other hand, is known for his awkwardly “weird” behavior, and is dismissed as not-too-bright. Dwight, though, is a very smart if “offbeat” boy with a lot to offer. Origami Yoda is his successful attempt to give others useful ideas for improving their own lives. This in turn, improves his relationships with the other kids, and he gains more respect and friendship. In many ways he is analogous to a misunderstood artist who is unliked and seen as odd until people fall in love with his creations.
For years, Dwight has built a reputation as eccentric. Sara, his next-door neighbor, has seen him dig holes in his backyard and sit in them, then fill them back up. Tommy notices him lying down in the library next to the encyclopedias. Someone will be nice to him, and he’ll respond with comments that are inappropriate and out of context. He’s a “weird” kid who many find hard to love.
Dwight wants nothing more than to be accepted for who he is, “strange” behaviors and all, but persistently fails to achieve this until creating Yoda. Origami Yoda offers wisdom that’s unusual, unexpected, and surprisingly effective, and the kids respond to it, sometimes lining up to ask questions. Through Dwight, Angleberger shows the importance of diverse ways of being and looking at the world.
The puppet continues to reflect Dwight’s odd ways: Yoda’s answers seem to echo the boy’s own eccentricity with his capricious and elaborately dramatic solutions: Kellen can save his reputation if he gets all of his clothes wet; Quavondo will lose his unfortunate nickname if he hands out bags of Cheetos to sixth graders; Cassie must fix an accident by making a weird sculpture; Tommy can overcome his shyness by learning how to do the Twist. Yoda’s advice seems odd, but it works, showing how unconventionality is valuable.
These original, bizarre, and wacky ideas work so well that it becomes almost impossible to deny that Dwight has some great qualities. Tommy puts it simply: “Dwight is weird, but I guess I’ve started to like him” (138). By improving the reputations of other students, Dwight improves his own, and by being helpful he attracts new friendships. Through Dwight, Angleberger suggests that by helping others we help ourselves.
Most of Yoda’s advice calls for the children to make positive changes in their lives; Dwight’s outreach with origami Yoda is his own effort to do the same. Just as Yoda’s advice isn’t always perfect and comes with costs, Dwight’s use of Yoda sometimes gets him into trouble. Somehow, though, Yoda’s ideas and predictions almost always are valuable; the entire project proves to be a great boon to everyone—especially to Dwight.
Unlock all 54 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: