49 pages • 1 hour read
Lincoln PeirceBig Nate: In a Class by Himself
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Nate Wright
Nate is the narrator and protagonist of Big Nate: In a Class by Himself. Nate is a lively and playful sixth grader at P.S. 38. He is also excessively self-confident and self-absorbed. Nate’s self-centeredness blinds him to the feelings of those around him and makes him feel like he is constantly victimized. He balances this out by being incredibly resilient and optimistic. While Nate may constantly feel he is the victim of others’ unfairness, he never lets those feelings get him down for long.
Nate’s hubris is so overwhelming that it is almost a character in itself. Nate is confident that he is destined for greatness. Therefore, he believes the things he struggles with are insignificant: “I want to use my talents for more than just memorizing useless facts. I’m meant for bigger things” (7). Nate’s self-confidence blinds him to most of his flaws and reality itself, which is why he struggles to accept Jenny and Artur’s relationship. Nate cannot fathom a world where the object of his affection does not reciprocate his feelings.
Similarly, Nate truly cannot grasp the difference in quality between his artwork and Artur’s, which is why he feels so aggrieved when Mr. Rosa refuses to show his artwork. Nate is completely obsessed with himself. His fantasy world is described in elaborate detail and accompanied by illustrations. While everyone is the hero of their own story, Nate takes it too far. He imagines himself as the hero in everyone’s story, which leads to imaginings that are full of hyperbole—positive and negative—and spur most of Nate’s actions. For example, Nate does not just worry that he will be in trouble for skipping school. In Nate’s mind, he risks suspension, expulsion, or military school.
Conversely, Nate’s imagination takes him down a road where a simple poem leads Jenny, who has never had the slightest romantic interest in him, to immediately fall in love with Nate, dump her boyfriend, and start dating Nate. Nate’s self-confidence and self-absorption make him incapable of imagining a realistic outcome. They also prevent him from empathizing with others, particularly teachers, who get frustrated with his constant interruptions. These flaws drive the story’s action and frequently make Nate’s life more challenging.
Nate’s unrelenting optimism and resilience balance out these flaws. After each failure to fulfill his fortune, Nate grumbles, lets it go, and plans his next strategy. Nate spends a challenging day struggling against teachers, other students, and his own character flaws, but he refuses to admit defeat until the end of the day. Nate’s optimistic nature cannot help but grasp at straws. When Mrs. Czerwicki tells Nate she thinks he has established a new record, Nate starts dancing. He ends the day thinking about how lucky he is to have so many detentions. Regardless of these many flaws, Nate’s resilience and optimism are enviable. If there is a positive side, Nate will find it and bounce back. In a story that feels like the whole world is against Nate, he demonstrates ultimate strength in bouncing back.
Francis Pope
Francis is Nate’s best friend, his next-door neighbor, and the voice of reason in Nate’s life. In this story, Francis’s actions and motivations revolve entirely around Nate. He is a sidekick to Nate’s quest to fulfill destiny. Later in the series, Francis serves a more critical role. While Nate’s imagination takes him far outside reality, Francis is grounded. He is a foil to Nate’s personality, as Francis and Nate are almost complete opposites. While Nate wonders whether there is a social studies test, Francis knows there is not one. While Nate leaves his social studies book at school, Francis takes his home to read for fun. While Nate is a free spirit, Francis is a rule follower. Francis helps to keep Nate from going too far into his imagination. For example, when Nate first gets his fortune, Francis quickly points out that his fortune does not specify how Nate will surpass all others. Francis also points out that the fortune specifies “today,” which Nate missed.
Despite their differences, the dynamic between Nate and Francis is unique. There is no hierarchy. Both boys have no problem teasing or hitting each other, and neither appears to dictate the relationship. They understand each other’s natures and support one another. For example, when Nate is freaking out about the possibility of a social studies test, Francis soothes him. Francis quickly tells Nate that he was insulting to Gina but also makes it clear that he is on Nate’s side. When Nate wants to sneak out of art, Francis provides a distraction, even though he thinks Nate is being stupid. When Nate wants to try speed eating, Francis helps gather 148 portions of green beans. When Nate is sure he can make Mr. Galvin laugh, Francis points out that the man never smiles. Francis does his best to curb Nate’s more ridiculous ideas but still helps Nate whenever he needs it. While Nate struggles to rely on adults, his friends are always supportive.
Teddy Ortiz
Like Francis, Teddy’s character is explored in greater detail in other books. In this one, he is mostly Nate’s sidekick. Teddy, like Francis, helps Nate fulfill his destiny. Teddy starts Nate’s quest by giving him the fortune cookie. Nate, Francis, and Teddy’s personalities are a balancing act. The boys work to keep one another in check. If Francis is Nate’s voice of reason, Teddy is the calming influence. Both Nate and Francis tend to be high-strung and can be easily overwhelmed. Teddy is the one to tell them to calm down and relax. At the same time, Teddy has a teasing, jokester personality, which can sometimes cause Nate and Francis’s stress.
Like Francis, Teddy is a steady, supportive influence on Nate. When Nate leaves his lunch at home, Teddy offers some of his. When Nate is going too far in his criticism of Artur, Teddy calls him on it. When Nate needs some cheering up, Teddy has no problem trading “your mamma” jokes. When Nate considers speed eating, Teddy is with Francis procuring a ridiculous amount of green beans. When Nate is disheartened about his fortune, Teddy tells him to relax and stop forcing it. However, Teddy’s support is part of a real pre-teen friendship. While Teddy is there for Nate when he needs help, he is quick to tease and make fun of him. In many ways, Teddy is the prophet of this story. He is the one who gives Nate the fortune cookie. He also points out that if Nate’s fortune is meant to be, Nate should not have to force it. Teddy is always honest with Nate, almost to the point of cruelty, but Nate refuses to believe the truth. Like Francis, Teddy’s character serves primarily as Nate’s support in this book.
Gina Hemphill-Toms
Good protagonists need enemies, and Gina is happy to take that role. Her personality is almost the opposite of Nate’s, and she loves getting him into trouble. Gina represents the problems that arise when a person bases their self-worth on the acknowledgment of others. Gina seeks opportunities to be the classroom helper to get adult attention. She tattles on Nate to get recognition from Mrs. Godfrey. She announces to Jenny that Nate is writing her a love poem to get acknowledgment from the “popular kids.” She deliberately looks for opportunities to make herself into the heroine and the other students into villains in the eyes of the adults around them. She “never gets into trouble…she gets OTHER people in trouble” (105).
While teachers most likely view Gina as the perfect student, there is a weight that comes with that. It does not appear that Gina has any friends in school. She does not know how to work with others. Her quest for perfection and adult acknowledgment comes at the cost of social relationships with her peers. This contrasts with Nate, who is not a good student but engages in far healthier behaviors than Gina. Gina demonstrates that many behaviors that teachers and parents desire in children do not make them healthy adults.
Mrs. Godfrey
Mrs. Godfrey is the physical representation of all of Nate’s challenges. Her class is the one he struggles with the most. Nate finds her teaching the most boring. Most of all, he believes that “the woman hates [him]” (35). While Nate tends to exaggerate, his feelings seem warranted here. Mrs. Godfrey appears to watch Nate extremely closely in class. While this is justified because of Nate’s behavior, she seems to be looking to catch him doing something wrong. For example, when Nate looks at his list of nicknames, he is off task but not disruptive. It seems overboard to rip the paper away from him rather than ask him to put it away. Likewise, when she asked who threw the lemon bar, she believed Randy immediately. She did not ask Nate for his side. Mrs. Godfrey did not even bother to ask one of the other students around. She is always ready to believe the worst of Nate, which has ruined any possibility of Nate respecting her.
Mrs. Godfrey is a realistic depiction of how many teachers treat nonexemplary students in the school system. Though Nate is never officially diagnosed, there is some evidence of neurodivergence in his behaviors. Rather than set up supports to help manage Nate’s behaviors, Mrs. Godfrey responds most frequently to Nate’s problematic behaviors by trying to shame him. This happens so often that Nate has nightmares about it. She calls on him when he clearly does not know the answer. She announces to the entire class that Nate has done so poorly on the last test that he is at risk of summer school. When other students blame Nate for things, Mrs. Godfrey does not ask for Nate’s version of events. She punishes him without investigation. Her teaching methods are questionable if only because she has no supports for struggling students. However, Mrs. Godfrey’s complete disregard for Nate’s feelings and her blatant attacks on his dignity make her a poor teacher.
