49 pages • 1 hour read
Big Nate: In a Class by Himself
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Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Nate’s friends tease him good-naturedly about his outburst. Nate grumbles to his friends about the unfairness of his getting detention while Gina avoids any trouble. His friends agree it is unfair but point out that Gina never gets in trouble. Nate reads that his detention is for disrupting class and insulting another student and jokes that he can be far more insulting. He proves this by trading “your mama” jokes with Teddy until Francis interrupts. Francis points out that Mr. Rosa updated the art display case. Mr. Rosa places the best student artwork in the case, choosing one student’s work to sit in a place of honor under a “Spotlight On” banner. Nate claims that having work displayed under the banner is tantamount to Mr. Rosa declaring that person the best artist in school. Nate decides that this must be how he surpasses all others, but his work is not in the display case. To add insult to injury, the student in the spotlight is Artur, whose work is being highlighted for the second time. While Teddy and Francis admire Artur’s work, Nate is unimpressed. He believes that his cartoon of Mrs. Godfrey running from a dinosaur is far more deserving of the spotlight. In art class, Nate starts to ask Mr. Rosa about the display case, but Mr. Rosa tells Nate, “I don’t have the time for frivolous requests right now” (114). Nate is outraged and cannot focus on his current task, making puppet heads. He decides to take matters into his own hands and place his work in the display case himself.
Nate asks Francis to create a diversion. The boys share an eye communication, where Nate begs for help, and Francis expresses his disdain for Nate’s plan without words. Despite his qualms, Francis distracts Mr. Rosa by letting a balloon go. Nate sneaks out the door and heads to the display case. He plans to place his work directly on top of Artur’s. Nate pulls the handle of the display case, but it sticks. He continues pulling until the handle pops off. The momentum from pulling the handle knocks Nate back into the wall with a loud crash. Mr. Rosa comes out and gives Nate a detention slip, drawing a frowny face as the reason.
Chapter 8 Summary
Nate’s friends make fun of him again for getting the first detention of the year from Mr. Rosa. As the boys head to the cafetorium, they notice Chester (the school bully) at their usual table. They decide to sit with Chad, a student they do not know well. Chad is reading The Complete Book of World Records, which Nate takes as a sign. Nate decides his fortune means he needs to set a world record. Nate borrows Chad’s book and flips through it for inspiration. Eventually, he finds speed eating. While Nate wonders what food he can speed eat, his friends are way ahead of him. Francis and Teddy canvas the cafetorium for green beans. They end up with 148 servings because no one eats the school green beans. There is a reason for this: The school green beans are slimy and unappetizing. A crowd gathers around Nate. Despite his misgivings, Nate feels pressured to eat the green beans. Nate notes that the beans taste revolting, and a minute into his 10-minute limit, Nate starts to feel sick. His classmates cheer him on, but Nate worries that he is about to throw up.
Principal Nichols yells Nate’s name and asks what he is doing. Nate tries to reply, but his mouth is too full. He has to spit out the green beans to the disgust of everyone around him. Nate explains that he is eating lunch and that the crowd around him is there because he is an “exciting eater” (137). Principal Nichols is having none of it. He tells everyone that lunch is over and tells Nate, in particular, to clean up the mess. As Principal Nichols walks away, he slips on some green bean juice. He lands flat on his back and tells Nate to go to his office.
Chapters 7-8 Analysis
Once again, even though Nate makes some big mistakes that deserve severe consequences, he also deserves a chance to explain himself. Throughout this section, Nate feels big, complicated emotions with no outlet for them. Someone should have sent him to the guidance office after he yelled at Gina or at least talked to him about what happened. However, because the teachers send Nate off to his next class when he is a ticking time bomb, things only get worse. Nate, who has already been utterly embarrassed in front of his classmates, now has to deal with the disappointment of being beaten by Artur again. Even his friends are less helpful than usual in helping Nate deal with his emotions. Nate fixates on his unshakable belief that his artwork is better than Artur’s in the same way he has fixated on his fortune. This fixation worsens Nate’s self-absorption, so he does not realize that bringing the display case up to Mr. Rosa right as he starts class is probably the worst possible time. Mr. Rosa, however, could have told Nate to save his question for after class. He could have asked Nate to write him a note. Instead, Mr. Rosa ignores Nate’s feelings and insults his request without ever fully hearing it. While the adults are understandably busy and dealing with their own frustrations, throughout this story, they behave no more maturely than their students.
Already at the end of his rope, Nate internalizes this as an acute injustice. Therefore, he feels justified in rectifying it immediately by himself. Nate’s fixation is so great that he loses his ability to weigh options and probable consequences, something he has already proven he can do. Earlier, when Nate was trying to get out of school, he looked at various options and weighed the pros and cons of each one. Even when he forged the note from his father, he paused and realized that this action could get him in far more trouble than failing a test. As the day progressed, Nate experienced several frustrations and injustices, which affected his impulse control and problem-solving abilities. Nate goes from second-guessing skipping school to sneaking out of class to replace his classmate’s work with his own. These are not the actions of a child who is thinking clearly but those of one who needs a break from the high emotions of the day. However, the adults around him see only poor behavior and ignore the underlying causes. As such, Nate’s disruptive behavior continues, and the root cause is never addressed.
While Nate’s actions in art class were ridiculous and deserving of detention, it is hard to find what he does wrong at lunch. Nate is eating—eating a truly absurd amount of green beans, but still just eating. Nate does not even leave his seat to ask his classmates for green beans; his friends do that part. Nate does not ask anyone to watch him eat. His classmates do that on their own. However, instead of yelling at the students cheering for Nate, Principal Nichols goes straight for Nate. Nate is not entirely truthful with the principal but does not lie. Everything seems to end well, with Nate having to clean up the green beans (which Nate should have been required to do in any case) until Principal Nichols slips on the green bean juice. It’s not clear how the green bean juice got there. It could have happened when Francis and Teddy moved the beans to Nate’s table. It may have happened before Nate started speed eating. Nevertheless, Nate is forced to shoulder the blame for Principal Nichols not watching his step. While there is no doubt that Principal Nichols is deeply embarrassed by his fall, it seems unjust that Nate should be punished for his embarrassment.
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