alex-and-the-final-project

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Part three: The Theme

Judith Viorst uses very thoughtful words to craft Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. To me, the theme of this book is to not judge people on their bad days. Everyone has days that are hard and tend to bring out the worst of us and this is shown time and time again in this book.

Before reading we don’t know who Alexander is, and after reading we do. Kind of. The only version of Alexander that we got to meet in this book is when he is in a horribly grumpy mood; and it just goes more downhill for the rest of the book. We as readers don’t actually get to see what Alexander is like as a normal kid, and that leads to an unfair judge of character.

Think about it in your day-to-day life, let's say you hold the door open for someone and they don’t say thank you. You may think that it’s rude but we must remember that we don’t know what is going on in other people's lives; that person may have been having a horrible day, but that doesn't mean that your action wasn’t kind. Every person has a bad day where they aren’t themselves, if you don’t want to be judged for your bad days, you should not judge people for theirs. Bad days happen and that's a part of life, we can stop them so it’s about learning to live with them. 

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a great introduction to kids that bad days happen and that’s inevitable. Just because people have bad moods does not mean that we should judge them for that. We have no clue what is happening in other people’s lives, so extending an extra bit of kindness may go a long way for people who need it. 

The theme of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is that kindness goes a long way, allowing people to feel heard and let them feel their feelings is the best thing you can do.

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Part Two: The Setting

There are multiple settings throughout Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, most of them are familiar ones like a house or a school. The settings in this story help the narrative flow smoothly, showing that no matter where Alexander goes, there will be something there to make his day worse.

The story opens with Alexander at home, in bed, but he woke up with gum in his hair, tripped on his skateboard while getting out of bed, and then accidentally dropped his sweater in the sink getting it wet. This, for anyone, would be a horrible way to start their day and put them in an irritable mood. For the next couple of pages, we see Alexander’s trip to school and how no one listened to his complaints, at school we see this again of his mood becoming worse. It seems to be, no matter the setting Alexander’s day just keeps getting worse. After school, Alexander has to go to the dentist which is already a place a child would not want to go to on a good day, let alone a bad day. After finding out that he has a cavity and he has to go back to the dentist next week, he decides he wants to go to Australia. After the dentist, they go shoe shopping and then to Alexander’s father's office and in both places, his mood becomes worse. Back home more negative things keep happening and his bad mood reasons keep piling up.

This story also very obviously takes place in a Western country, most likely the United States, based on two things. First is the way that the characters talk and interact with each other, and the second is that Alexander’s mental escape country is Australia, on the other side of the world. Australia is a big motif in the story as the place that Alexander wants to run away to, because everything is different there so bad days won’t happen. Although Australia isn’t an actual place visited in the story, it’s still a part of the setting due to how much it is referenced.

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Part One: The Characters

The characters in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst are incredibly important to tell the story of the book. They are the main focus of the story, and their relations with each other drive the plot forward.

The main character, Alexander, goes through a series of challenges throughout his day that make his day seem like the worst one ever. He is constantly being ignored and his feelings. Throughout the story, Alexander’s mood just gets increasingly worse. There's no resolution at the end of the story. He goes to bed in a bad mood and we don’t get to know if it’s been resolved for the next day. 

The other characters in the story tend to just make Alexander’s mood worse, he gets in a scuff with his best friend Paul who no longer is Alexander’s best friend. This happens upon finding out that he is only Paul’s third best friend and that deeply hurts Alex’s feelings. 

Alexander's brothers also do not do much to help his bad mood, making fun of him for crying, calling him a “crybaby” and laughing at him when he falls in the mud. These negative interactions with other characters drive Alexander’s bad day to become even worse. Even beforehand when he was getting a ride to school, Alexander feels unheard by the other people in the car, which causes him to feel isolated. Making his day go from bad to terrible.

Since he’s a child he’s not good with emotional regulation, so his mood becomes increasingly worse; Alexander goes through some inner turmoil, unable to cope properly with the things affecting his mood. He begins to overreact to small things, like people kissing on the TV.

The characters in this book are the driving force of the plot. Character interactions directly affect how Alexander’s feelings. Even at the end of the book, the only bit of consolation he gets is from his mom. She lets him know that bad days happen and that it's okay that they do.