Chapter Ten

The tenth chapter is about Ursula Riggs. Since the beginning of the story her attitude towards people has changed a lot. Now there are other differences between Ursula and Ugly Girl, because they have developed. Their character traits have suddenly changed.

At the beginning of the story, Ursula Riggs was a shy and frightened girl. She was afraid of other people and didn’t trust herself to stand up against anyone.
Ugly Girl was the brave and strong warrior-woman. She was absolutely independent and didn’t need anybody. Many other people were afraid of her and evaded her. She was the excellent basketball player without any equal opponent.

Since that day Ugly Girl has rescued Matt Donaghy from severe punishment, he likes Ursula Riggs, the tough and courageous girl. Every time he notices her in school, he smiles at her. This is the only thing that makes Ugly Girl shrink away in shyness. Then she doesn’t know what to do. She cannot react to this with strength and violence (p. 84, ll. 23, 24).

To have the boy’s affections, is a totally new feeling for Ugly Girl. “A weird hot flash came over me; my face burned. (p 85, l. 7)” Now she also seems to be a normal girl, who has the same feelings as any other girl. “I’m going to trip on the stairs. … It was because Matt Donaghy was there, watching me … smiling at me … who signed his e-mail Your friend Matt” Ugly Girl is overstrained with such a situation.

Now Ugly Girl is also polite. She’s never been a kind of polite, only respectful. Now she smiles at her teachers, just to be polite (p. 85, ll. 15, 16).