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Chapter 1: Diving Under
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Flipped, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Perception vs. Reality
Family and Identity
First Love
Integrity and Growth
Summary
Analysis
The moment 7-year-old Juli saw Bryce Loski’s blue eyes, she “flipped.” After soccer camp ended, she’d been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her new neighbor, a boy her mom (Trina) told her was her age. She couldn’t wait to introduce herself the day his family moved in. Though she’d only been wanting a new friend to play with, there was a moment just after they met, when Bryce was walking back inside of his house, that he unexpectedly held her hand and looked into her eyes. She’d felt like she was floating. Even six years later, she’s still convinced that Bryce would have kissed her right there if Mrs. Loski hadn’t stepped outside, interrupting their moment.
Juli’s perspective casts the same events that Bryce relayed in the previous chapter in a dramatically different light. While Bryce presented his first encounter with Juli as suffocating and embarrassing, Juli remembers it as transcendent—their momentary hand-holding becomes a defining moment in her life. She also interprets his holding her hand as intentional, rather than the clumsy result of him trying to pull away, which explains why she continued to chase after him for years—she believed her feelings were reciprocated.
Active
Themes
Around the fourth grade, Juli learned how to rein in her impulses around Bryce. Before that, though, she tried to be around him constantly. But when she saw him holding hands with Shelly Stalls in fifth grade, her jealousy got the better of her: she yanked Shelly into a headlock at school, ruining Shelly’s perfect hair. Soon after, Bryce and Shelly broke up, and Juli took it as proof she’d done the right thing. In the sixth grade, Juli started giving Bryce answers on their spelling tests. Their teacher kept struggling students in at lunchtime, and Juli wanted Bryce free so he could eat with her. She didn’t mind bending the rules to make that happen.
