66 pages • 2 hours read
Wink
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Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Let’s Get Radioactive!”
Ross is going to have his first radiation treatment. He describes the intimidating equipment around him and the two radiation techs, Frank and Callie. Frank wants to know what music he should play for Ross during the treatments, but Ross is ambivalent about music. Frank walks Ross through the coming procedure with some theatrical flair and reminds Ross to stare at a red X directly above him. The machines turn on; the treatment begins.
The chapter ends with a comic strip about Ross’s superhero Batpig, an anthropomorphic pig in a Batman costume. In “Batpig vs The Radioactive Zapper,” Batpig is trapped in a circumstance similar to Ross’s physical position during treatment; however, the “zapper” is meant to blow up Batpig’s face, and its creator is an “evil doctor.” Batpig easily escapes the steel table, destroys the zapper, punishes the doctor, and settles down to eat a sandwich.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Protonapalooza”
Ross recalls the previous summer, when he discovered he has a tumor above his right eye. This was the first of several “Bad Days” that led to his present state.
On the first Bad Day, his eyelid becomes puffy like a bullfrog’s inflated vocal sac. He draws a bullfrog with a thought bubble that says, “Oof.” After the swelling recedes and returns twice more, Ross has a CT scan.
Dr. Sheffler finds a tumor in the scan and schedules a needle biopsy. Ross’s focus becomes hazy upon hearing the news; he barely listens to his father and the doctor discuss what the mass might be. Ross remembers that his mother found out she had cancer from a needle biopsy and wishes Dr. Sheffler would give him a chart telling him how upset he ought to be. Ross creates an example: a “Freak-Out Scale” that describes the reactions required on a range of 1 to 10 (13). Ross’s father makes phone calls; Ross considers texting his friends, but he doesn’t know what to say.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Back to Reality”
Ross is lying on the steel table at the radiation center. He worries he fell asleep when he should have been staring at the red X. He reflects that he may need better music to keep him awake since he’ll have to repeat the procedure every day for eight weeks.
Frank escorts Ross back to the waiting room, but Linda isn’t there. He assumes she went to Starbucks and draws Linda’s usual drink order. Frank introduces Ross to an older cancer patient named Jerry and charges Ross with bringing some genuine music next time. Ross texts Abby to tell her the treatment is finished. Linda arrives, clutching her iced tea, and Ross introduces her to Jerry before they leave. In Linda’s car, Ross texts Isaac. To Ross’s surprise, it looks like Isaac might respond, but the text never comes through.
At home, Ross looks at himself in a mirror. He sees no mark from the radiation, but there’s a scar from the surgery, and his right eye permanently squints. He passes out on his bed and dreams he’s a French fry in a deep fryer, dunked over and over in boiling oil. In the dream’s illustration, the fry has a face and pleads, “Not extra crispy!!” (23). Ross wakes to find his father sitting on his bed. He expresses concern about his father’s tired appearance, but his father just wants to hear about the treatment. Ross settles in to talk.
Chapter 4 Summary: “School Fun. Yay.”
The following morning, Ross is at school with Abby. They drop Abby’s viola in the band room before they go to their classes. Ross and Abby became friends in first grade, adding Isaac Nalibotsky to their group in fourth grade. However, Isaac has practically vanished since Ross received his diagnosis.
People in general are treating Ross differently, and Abby anticipates Ross will get special treatment from teachers. She also urges him to make his radiation treatment sound more dramatic. Abby naturally draws attention to herself, which normally makes it easier for Ross to be invisible, “like a stealth bomber in a hoodie” (29)—an image he illustrates. Now Ross is an object of morbid curiosity everywhere he goes.
In language arts, Ms. Bayer shows Ross special treatment, which he didn’t expect from her. He also doesn’t expect his crush, Sarah Kennedy, to ask him for some paper. When he hands the paper to Sarah, he hears Jimmy Jenkins ask him accusingly if he has superpowers now. Jimmy is a big kid who reminds Ross of a bear that gets angry easily. Ross sketches a picture of a grizzly labeled “Angry Jimmy.” Jimmy has strange habits—he chews wads of Big League Chew and collects his excess saliva in a jar—as well as a bad reputation, so Ross avoids interacting with him. Jimmy asks Ross more inappropriate questions about the side effects of radiation; Ross gives brief answers. Sarah tells Ross about the Christmas talent show she’s organizing, hands him a flyer, and suggests he draw his funny characters for the show.
Ross thinks of himself as a doodler, unlike his late mother, who was an illustrator. He keeps a sketchbook in which he draws his Batpig comics as well as more serious sketches. He uses his mom’s old sketchbook holder. He doesn’t show his drawings or talk about them to anyone—a point he illustrates with a sketch of the book in question and the words “not for public consumption” (37).
Sarah asks how Ross is feeling. He really feels embarrassed, but he tells her he’s well. He’s proud that he managed the conversation without having a heart attack. He draws a serene Batpig with the title “Proud Batpig” beneath him.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
The opening chapters provide essential information about Ross, such as his unique situation as a cancer patient, the supporting characters and their connections to him, and the main conflicts he’ll face. While Ross provides readers with expositional information, he reveals in his first-person narrative voice two distinct layers of his personality. The first consists of what he chooses to see. He judges the world with the eyes of a cartoonist; he compartmentalizes each experience, and he incorporates humor into his descriptions of serious situations. The bullfrog sketch that emphasizes his metaphor about his puffy eyelid is one example of Ross’s perspective. The Batpig comic strip, which is a recurring visual art motif in the story, is another, and one that proves vital to his character development. Batpig gives Ross an outlet; he faces his problems through an alter ego and achieves the outcome he wants. This lays the groundwork for one of the work’s core themes—that Authentic Self-Expression Is Liberating—but at this point, there is a limit to how open he is willing to be. His sketches largely occupy the second layer of Ross’s personality: his internal life.
Ross’s internal life consists of the opinions and feelings that he doesn’t overtly acknowledge because his main survival tactics are escaping reality in his secret sketches or evading uncomfortable conversations with jokes. In particular, he has no desire to dwell on the frightening reality of his illness and its consequences. As he waits for his first treatment, Ross privately panics about what is happening to him. He masks his emotions rather than share what he is thinking with the other characters, but he does openly express his feelings to the readers with the help of figurative language. His hyperbolic description of the radiation machine uses metaphor to indicate Ross’s fear: “It looks like one of those room-sized five-ton laser things supervillains use in movies. The kind they threaten to destroy the planet with” (1). The ironic comparison of the machine that is going to treat his cancer with a fictional weapon of mass destruction provides readers with insight into Ross’s fear-tinged perspective as well as his propensity for humorous exaggeration.
Ross’s ambivalence about music is important to the narrative, as it lays the foundation for his personal growth. Music—the kind Frank talks about—is a medium for honest self-expression and a symbol of human connection. Like rock and roll, self-expression and interpersonal connections can be imperfect, but they are essential. Music will give Ross opportunities to express himself and forge important relationships. Frank himself will become one of those connections, as will Jerry. Although the novel focuses primarily on Ross’s relationships with his peers, these intergenerational friendships are also significant. They carry with them the potential for miscommunication; Frank, for instance, uses older technology to play music—compact discs, cassette tapes, LPs—which Ross finds funny. Nevertheless, the education in classic rock that Ross receives from Frank inspires him to play the guitar, which proves vital to his character arc.
For the present, Ross suffers from self-consciousness and wishes his sickness didn’t attract attention. He is stuck on the idea that he’s better off blending into the crowd, but blending in is not an option anymore, so Ross feels uncomfortable around everyone except Abby. His best friend is his opposite when it comes to attention and is in the mental place that Ross needs to reach: She’s comfortable with expressing herself, putting on a performance, and interacting with people.
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