63 pages • 2 hours read
Rob BuyeaThe Perfect Score
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Finding Strength in Perceived Weaknesses
Content Warning: This section discusses domestic abuse.
In The Perfect Score, Buyea brings together five very different children, and while it first seems that the characters are too different to find common ground, the narrative arc soon makes it clear that their differences are an asset, not a hindrance. In Chapter 9, after the children make collages on the first day of school, Mrs. Woods says that the children are talented individually, but “when we bring our individual strengths together, we have the potential to achieve something truly special” (24). This sentiment encourages the children to recognize their individual strength, even if it’s something that the world tells them is a weakness. From the beginning, Buyea brings these strengths into the light, showing Gavin’s understanding of football and being a team player, Randi’s ability to push herself and achieve greatness, Trevor’s emotional sensitivity, Scott’s capacity to care, and Natalie’s logical way of viewing the world.
One significant strength that the children initially view as a weakness is each other: At first, they are suspicious of most of the other students in their class and don’t want their help or friendship. While Gavin understands being a team player in theory, he believes that his own skill is enough to carry him through anything and blames outside forces (such as Natalie’s mom) for his perceived failures. Randi defines herself in terms of success and strives to be the best, believing that being a member of a team will only dull her performance and anger her mom. Trevor hides from others because he fears his secret being discovered, and Natalie isolates herself, thinking that she doesn’t need others because she is enough on her own. As a result, the children are lonely and unable to grow until Scott brings them together. As a result, the children find that they are stronger together than apart.
Though the choice to cheat on the CSAs reveals a weakness that the children share, their situation turns into a strength as they learn valuable lessons. Up until the children confess everything, they have all suffered from the knowledge that they have cheated and lied, both to themselves and to others. Gavin chooses to believe that his bad fortune is someone else’s fault, Randi tells herself that everything is fine with her mom when she knows that it isn’t, Trevor persuades himself that he can take care of his brother though he knows that he can’t, Natalie avoids everyone because she views others as a liability, and Scott convinces himself that his actions are helpful even when he sees that many of them aren’t. These lies keep each character in poor or harmful situations until they learn to tell the truth. By revealing that they cheated and their reasons for doing so, the children gain the power to change their lives for the better. Together, they improve each other’s home lives, futures, and relationships with each other. The novel ultimately conveys that “a bad thing can turn into a good thing” if only people learn to find strengths in perceived weaknesses (297).
The Pressure Inherent in Expectations
Throughout The Perfect Score, the characters find expectations set upon them, both by themselves and others. Through their relationships at home and at school, as well as through the CSAs, the novel explores the dangers of setting expectations too high and the damage that is done due to pressure. When the children first learn that Mrs. Woods will be their sixth-grade teacher, they immediately set expectations for her based on her age, looks, and personality—everything from Gavin thinking that she’ll be useless to Natalie wanting the absolute best from her. In doing so, the children put pressure on Mrs. Woods, which makes it difficult for them to adjust when she turns out to be what they don’t expect. For Gavin, this realization comes when Mrs. Woods insists on helping him with reading. When Mrs. Woods dedicates her time and energy to helping him improve, Gavin realizes that he badly misjudged her. Far from useless, Mrs. Woods really does help, and Gavin finds himself working doubly hard to reconcile the teacher he thought he had with the truth, showing how expectations and prejudgments do him a disservice.
Through the CSAs, the novel shows how expectations in one area permeate all parts of life for the students. In Chapter 74, during Mrs. Woods’s argument about the CSAs with the principal, she tells him that the children hate school, which is the biggest shame of all because “if you can’t enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll never want to work hard at it” (229). While the tests start as a way for the administration to measure student achievement in core subjects, the expectations that the tests put upon the students continue to increase until the tests are intended to be used as a benchmark to decide the academic and extracurricular futures of the kids. As a result, the pressure of the tests reaches the children both at school and at home. Trevor has been counting on football practice next year to let him get away from his brother’s abuse, and Randi’s mom changes up Randi’s schedule and priorities without any input from her daughter. The overbearing nature of the CSAs starts to destroy any joy or relief the kids find at school, which leads to even more pressure as they struggle to cope with both the CSAs and their rapidly disintegrating situations. The kids know that cheating on the CSAs is wrong, but when faced with so much pressure to do well, they resort to drastic measures, showing how pressurizing expectations lead to poor and desperate decisions.
While the children are the protagonists of the text, Buyea also explores how pressurizing expectations affect adults, too. The estranged relationship between Mrs. Woods and the woman who turns out to be her daughter, Mrs. Magenta, conveys the fact that her expectations of her daughter not to pursue art were harsh and unrealistic and only led to negative consequences. The principal of the school and its administrators feel pressure to deliver good test results so that they can continue to run the school effectively, and this pressure affects each of the teachers. Randi’s mom evidently feels pressure to have a child who excels and perpetuates this pressure, harming Randi in the process. Gavin’s dad, too, feels the pressure of the CSAs and eventually stands up to speak out against them. Buyea therefore shows that the pressure inherent in expectations affects everyone and that life will improve when children and adults alike let go of the expectations that they place on each other.
Being True to Oneself
Through both internal and external conflicts, the characters of The Perfect Score learn the importance of accepting who they and others are, no matter what anyone else thinks. As seen by the dynamics between the friends, as well as Mrs. Magenta, the main obstacle to finding personal truth is fear. The characters must acknowledge how their truths make them different and accept, as Natalie says in Chapter 71, that “different is okay” (216). For Gavin, Randi, and Trevor, this means first acknowledging that they must open up about their home situations. All three want to believe that things will get better if they just wait, but by the time the truth comes out, all of them have seen things get worse, not better. By opening up about their struggles with reading, pressure, and abuse, Gavin, Randi, and Trevor are set free to find help and change their situations. Though this means feeling exposed and dealing with difficult emotions, their endings are far better than how they began the story, showing the benefits of acknowledging their true selves.
The poem “The Guy in the Glass” by Dale Wimbrow represents the essence of this theme. Gavin reads this poem on the wall of the senior center, which is about how a person’s only judge in life is themselves. It states that judgment from anyone else doesn’t matter “if you’ve cheated the guy in the glass” (239). Gavin repeats this mantra to himself throughout the text. The imagery of staring at oneself in a mirror conveys the point that the most exposing thing one can do is look at themselves and their own life and question their choices. This reinforces the novel’s argument that being true to oneself matters.
Once the children find their truths within themselves, they are able to share those truths with others and get what they want, as illustrated by the relationship between Gavin, Randi, and Natalie. Prior to admitting why they cheated on the CSAs, these three characters are at odds with one another. Gavin is angry that Randi has befriended Natalie, Randi’s mom has put pressure on her not to see Gavin, and Natalie feels good about having Randi as a friend but bad about the strife that it’s caused between Randi and Gavin. When the truth about the CSAs comes out and leads to the truth about the legal case involving Gavin’s parents, Gavin realizes that Natalie isn’t to blame, which finally lets him accept the truth—that Natalie isn’t a bad person. As a result, the rift between Gavin and Natalie starts to heal, which in turn helps Gavin and Randi mend their friendship while Randi and Natalie’s friendship continues to grow. This is exemplified in their affidavits, as Gavin and Randi finish each other’s sentence, forming the phrase, “And the truth…Shall set you free” (314, 316). In addition, Randi admitting the truth about pressure at home makes Randi’s mom realize how unreasonable she’s been. She retracts her restrictions on Randi’s friendship with Gavin, allowing Randi to tell Gavin the truth and free herself from the last of her mom’s pressure. The three move forward with the air between them clear thanks to the individual truths with which each has made peace.
While the kids ultimately show the power of being true to themselves and others, Mrs. Magenta exemplifies what can happen when someone tries to deny who they are. Years before the story takes place, Mrs. Magenta wanted to pursue art because she loves it and has a talent for it. However, pressure from her mother, Mrs. Woods, stopped Mrs. Magenta from doing what she loved. Instead, Mrs. Magenta became a teacher like her mother, and this denial of her true self damaged the relationship between the two women, as well as Mrs. Magenta’s confidence in herself. As a result, her only contact with art for much of the novel is through instructing her after-school program, and her relationship with Mrs. Woods is reduced to leaving notes and awkwardly avoiding one another. Through watching Gavin express himself with art, Mrs. Magenta sees what she left behind. Seeing her love of art reflected in someone else helps her take back her personal truth—that she wants to be an artist. By the end of the novel, she has begun to rebuild the confidence she lost, though her relationship with her mother is still rocky. Mrs. Magenta’s arc shows how damaging ignoring the truth can be, as well as how accepting the truth can offer healing.
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By Rob Buyea
