After Marcus is harassed by his peers because of his appearance, Will buys Marcus new shoes to help him fit in. Ask yourself, what is right with this picture?
Neutrino’s Analysis
Will’s Strengths
Marcus challenges Will to find inner strengths. Here, we immediately see a display of caring and leadership, and then, ingenuity and creativity. Perhaps Marcus can’t become invisible, but the next best thing would be blending in. When Will takes Marcus shoe shopping, they pick out a pretty slick-looking pair of shoes and while we haven’t seen whether these allow him to blend into the crowd and be ignored by the bullies at school, we see an instant boost in confidence. Marcus feels cool and looks good in his new shoes, and Will is quite generous, happy and even eager to buy the shoes for Marcus.
Marcus’s Strengths
While Marcus may be a little midguided in trying to shrug off the bullying as if it’s no big deal, he does display a degree of bravery, humor and prudence in not making a big deal out of it. Marcus has learned an important lesson in life even at his young age: sometimes you have to roll with the punches. Marcus does seem to take this to a hopeless extreme, accepting bullying as his lot in life rather than a problem that he can do something about, but luckily, he is open-minded enough to accept that Will just might have a solution up his sleeve.
Strengths of Teamwork and Love
Whether or not these shoes are the invisibility spell Marcus was hoping for, whether or not they stop the bullies at school, the real key to this scene is the bonding that occurs between the two characters. Bullies are out there and they try to ruin your day, but going home to a good friend can more than make up for it. Love, citizenship, and having a sense of belonging: these are all very important in life. The bullying problem might not be solved by the end of this scene, but Marcus has been instilled with a confidence that comes from a combination of the love of good friends, bravery, and persistence. By the end of this scene, Marcus and Will are both displaying all three of these strengths.
I laughed out loud at the, “Is one of the machines in your kitchen an invisible machine?!” LOL. I’ve always loved “About a Boy.” In addition to Will being caring and generous, I think that another one of his strengths is his ability to empower Marcus. Marcus has a bit of a defeatist attitude (“There’s nothing I can do about it.”), but Will takes charge and empowers him by showing him that he doesn’t have to resign himself to defeat. There are things he can do to make himself feel good and fit in at school. An invaluable lesson 🙂