Rhonda Lazarre: Awkwardness, Hope, and the Power of Being Seen

Overview

Rhonda Lazarre is an eleventh‑grade student in Artie Dam’s history class. She is physically awkward—short, with skewed glasses and a perpetual open‑mouthed expression—and she walks with her arms out, a mannerism that makes her a target for mockery. In her first‑day essay she writes, “I don’t understand much, and sometimes I get mad at God.” Despite her social difficulties, Rhonda possesses an earnest, transparent goodness that Artie immediately recognises and nurtures. Over the course of the novel, she evolves from a bullied outsider into a young woman who discovers her calling as a minister, a transformation sparked by Artie’s simple acts of kindness.

Plot Role

Rhonda appears in several key scenes:

• First day of school (Chapter 1): She asks to go to the bathroom. Later, Danny Marino mimics her walk; Artie reprimands the class for superiority, protecting Rhonda without her realising she was the target.
• Return from hospital (Chapter 2): She tells Artie he has “a guardian angel here on Earth,” an idea that resonates with her spiritual sensitivity.
• Holocaust lesson (Chapter 3): She asks whether world peace is possible; Artie affirms it, later feeling guilty for lying.
• Death of Charles Schwartz (Chapter 6): She brings homemade cookies and tells a story about an old woman who went door‑to‑door because her son had gone blind. Artie reframes the story as a lesson about hidden suffering.
• Future coda (Chapter 5 and Epilogue): After Artie’s death, Rhonda approaches Evie to speak at the funeral but is refused. She becomes a minister who helps people like her former self—awkward, scared, lonely—as well as popular students who hide their own pain.

Motivations and Traits

Rhonda is motivated by a deep desire to be useful. She tells Artie, “I want to help people” and asks if she can “do her part” for world peace. Her need for validation is palpable; she blushes easily and seems perpetually uncertain. Yet she also possesses moral courage: she volunteers to share a personal story in front of classmates who sometimes snicker at her. Her honesty—“I don’t understand much”—is both a vulnerability and a strength. She is unafraid to ask big questions about God, death, and peace, even at the risk of sounding naïve.

Her traits, as shown through actions:

• Sensitive: She is “stricken” when Artie says he blacked out.
• Nurturing: She bakes cookies and passes them around.
• Loyal: She keeps a pillowcase from class (where students stored phones) and sleeps with it for years, treasuring it as a symbol of Artie’s care.
• Perseverant: Her journey from awkward teenager to helping professional is gradual but steady.

Chronological Arc

1. Introduction (Chapter 1): Rhonda is established as an outsider. Artie notices her vulnerability and protects her from Danny’s cruelty.
2. After Artie’s near‑drowning (Chapter 2): She voices her belief in a guardian angel, showing her spiritual side.
3. During Holocaust lesson (Chapter 3): She asks about world peace; Artie encourages her. This conversation solidifies her ambition to help people.
4. Mid‑year (Chapter 5): She is seen in the school hallway; Artie greets her warmly, and she later recalls this moment as the one when she decided to become a minister.
5. Christmas break (Chapter 6): She tells the old‑woman story, receiving Artie’s validation. This is the last in‑scene appearance during the main timeline.
6. Epilogue (future coda): After Artie’s death, Rhonda is a young woman who seeks to speak at his funeral. She becomes a minister. The narrator explicitly states she “helped people,” fulfilling Artie’s prediction.

Relationships

Artie Dam

Rhonda’s relationship with Artie is the emotional core of her arc. She adores him—the narrator calls him “her first love.” Artie sees her authentic self and tells her, “You’re honest, and you’re real. You will have a good future.” His encouragement gives her the confidence to pursue ministry. In turn, she gives him hope: after the world‑peace discussion, he admits, “You give me hope.” Their bond is reciprocal; he protects her from ridicule, and she reminds him why teaching matters.

Danny Marino

On the first day, Danny mocks Rhonda’s walk. Artie’s rebuke humiliates Danny, but years later Danny credits Artie with changing his life. Rhonda and Danny are both shaped by Artie, though Rhonda never learns of the mockery. In the future, they appear together in a graduation photo with Artie, suggesting a neutral or even friendly post‑class relationship.

Evie Dam

After Artie’s death, Rhonda asks Evie to speak at the funeral, but Evie refuses, saying, “He meant a great deal to many people.” Evie later regrets this decision when she finds the photo and notes. Rhonda never confronts Evie; her response is simply to continue her own work.

Other Students

Rhonda is socially isolated. Some students decline her cookies; she is sometimes subject to subtle disdain. Yet in her career as a minister, she reaches both the awkward and the popular, demonstrating that she transcends her early marginalisation.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Theme and Symbol Connections

Rhonda embodies the novel’s central themes of loneliness and unspoken truths. As the epigraph by Jung notes, loneliness stems from the inability to communicate what is personally important. Rhonda is lonely because she is different, yet she speaks openly about her feelings and questions—a contrast to characters like Artie, who guard secrets. Her story about the old woman who went door‑to‑door because her son had gone blind illustrates the theme of hidden suffering: the woman was not merely a nuisance but a grieving mother. Artie’s interpretation—that people “suffered things that no one knew about”—echoes the novel’s exploration of the private universes within each person.

The guardian angel she mentions is a symbol of the unseen forces that protect and guide us. Artie literally had a rescuer (Ken Moynihan), but Rhonda’s phrase also applies to Artie himself, who acts as a guardian for vulnerable students. Her own future role as a minister makes her a guardian for others.

Rhonda’s trajectory also engages the theme of free will (Artie discusses free will with Ken). She chooses her path deliberately, inspired by a teacher’s kindness. Her story suggests that small choices—a greeting in the hallway, a few words of encouragement—can alter the course of a life.

Five Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. What prompts Rhonda to decide to become a minister?
Fact: The narrator says the moment Artie turned and asked how she was in the hallway was when she “decided she would become a minister, even if she had not fully understood it at that moment.”
Interpretation: The simple act of being noticed in a public space gave her a sense of worth that she later channelled into a vocation of helping others.

2. How does Artie protect Rhonda on the first day of class?
Fact: Artie sees Danny Marino imitate Rhonda’s walk. Without naming anyone, Artie says, “Do not ever feel that you are superior to someone else.” He later checks that Rhonda did not realise she had been mocked.
Interpretation: Artie’s indirect rebuke preserves Rhonda’s dignity while still disciplining Danny.

3. Why does Rhonda treasure the pillowcase from class?
Fact: The pillowcase was used to store students’ cellphones. Rhonda sleeps with it by her face every night and later keeps it in her closet, taking it out to hold before bed.
Interpretation: It is a tangible link to Artie and to the safety she felt in his classroom—a token of being cared for.

4. What is the significance of the old‑woman story Rhonda tells in Chapter 6?
Fact: Rhonda recalls a woman who used to visit houses and never leave; years later she learned the woman’s son had gone blind. Artie reframes it as a lesson about judging others based on unknown suffering.
Interpretation: The story reinforces the novel’s call for empathy, and Rhonda’s willingness to share it shows her growing confidence.

5. What happens when Rhonda tries to speak at Artie’s funeral?
Fact: She approaches Evie, who refuses her offer, saying “He meant a great deal to many people.” The narrator later notes that Evie regretted this refusal after discovering Artie’s mementos.
Interpretation: Rhonda is denied a public tribute, but her private memory of Artie remains transformative. Her later career as a minister becomes a living tribute.