In “Shu Yi,” Mr. Wilkinson is Ava and Shu Yi’s teacher. He wears band T-shirts instead of dress clothes and has long hair. He has considerably more progressive views than many of the people he lives among, and people in Ava’s suburb consider him something of a hippie. When Ava’s mum tells Mr. Wilkinson about the other students bullying Shu Yi, Mr. Wilkinson’s response is the opposite of Mr. James’s: he’s horrified to hear about what’s been going on and stresses to Ava the importance of being an alley to Shu Yi and helping her to feel like less of an outsider at her new school.
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Mr. Wilkinson Character Timeline in Foreign Soil
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Wilkinson appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Shu Yi
...Mr. James, knocks on the classroom door. The narrator (Ava) wonders if her grade-three teacher, Mr. Wilkinson , is in trouble. People consider him “a renegade” because he wears his long hair...
(full context)
Ava’s mum leads Ava into the classroom. Ava’s classmates stare at Ava as Mum leads Mr. Wilkinson into the cloakroom to speak in private. Moments later, Mr. Wilkinson motions for Ava and...
(full context)
