Flipped

Several character relationships in Flipped support a theme of recognizing one’s true nature, especially after perpetuating a long-term false perspective. Granddad Duncan encourages Bryce to see Juli anew, for example, after she attempts to save the tree; despite Bryce’s insistence that Juli is annoying and impossible, his grandfather leaves him with the newspaper featuring Juli’s photo and story: “Read this […]. Without prejudice” (28). It will be a while before Bryce fully acknowledges Juli for who she is; in the meantime, he struggles with the increasing awareness that his father is not the man he thought he was. Snide remarks and a lack of goodwill toward the Bakers mark Mr. Loski’s behavior in the second half of the novel; by the time of the dinner party, Bryce cannot help but see the truth about his father: “When I was little, I’d always thought that my dad was right about everything and that there wasn’t a man on earth he couldn’t take. But standing there looking in, I realized that Mr. Baker could squash him like a bug” (149). Here, Bryce compares the two men’s physical size, but his words' underlying, symbolic meaning refers to their moral character.

Bryce’s new insight into his father’s small-mindedness blooms into other realizations about his family’s lack of communication and understanding with one another. He credits the close proximity of Juli’s family at the dinner party for his awakening: “It was like seeing inside the Bakers’ world had opened up windows into or own, and the view was not a pretty one. Where had all this stuff come from? And why hadn’t I ever seen it before” (158). Similarly, her husband’s judgments of the Bakers—especially his baseless accusations about Matt and Mike being drug dealers—prompt Mrs. Loski to see Mr. Loski with new eyes. This reaction is foreshadowed by Granddad’s comments to Juli during a yardwork session regarding some folks being less than the sum of their parts; he also cryptically refers to a woman “who’s never been able to look beneath the surface” (113). When her mother confides in the last chapter that Mrs. Loski finally recognizes the truer attributes of Mr. Loski, Juli realizes that the woman is Bryce’s mom.

Juli’s experience with the dinner party is revelatory in a way that is similar to Bryce’s:

As I looked around, it struck me that we were having dinner with a group of strangers. We’d lived across the street for years, but I didn’t know these people at all. Lynetta did know how to smile. Mr. Loski was clean and smooth on the outside, but there was a distinct whiff of something rotten buried just beneath the surface. And the ever-efficient Mrs. Loski seemed flustered, almost hyper. Was it having us over that was making her nervous? (166).

After these realizations about Bryce’s family, and once Bryce plants the sapling in her yard in a symbolic act of reparations, Juli is ready to see Bryce for whom he is as well.