The Marthas!
on Dec22 2010The Marthas are a perfect example of angels on the outsides, and sort of devils on the inside. They do community service work like setting up for faculty parties, tutoring city kids, and hosting walkathons. Even though they do all these nice things, the “Clan Leaders” seem very into their idiotic rules. Melinda describes them as “an expensive clan to run with” (42). This is kind of saying that if you want to be in the group, you have to be able to afford the designer clothes they wear, which is hard for some people whose parents don’t have jobs or low wages.
This doesn’t seem to be what a community service club should be like. A real service club takes time out of there lives to help others and don’t ask for anything in return. The Marthas don’t really get the concept of that. In the book, they had Heather decorate for the Thanksgiving faculty meeting and she was “not allowed to take credit for her work” (45). Although they don’t directly ask for anything, it is obvious that they want to get praise for what they do and for what other people do.
There are a lot of things wrong with this so called “community service” club. The Clan Leaders need to put an end to taking credit for things the younger members do. The younger members should speak up and not let the Leaders push them around. They also need to stop trying to dress the same, it sounds really corny and childish. For example they wear “plaid for autumn with matching sweaters in colors named after fruit… winter calls for Fair Isle sweaters, lined wool pants, and Christmas hair ornaments.” (42). Instead of doing it every day they should do it only once in a while, like every month. That way people who don’t have a lot of money can join too. With these simple changes the Marthas might become a more pleasant group for people who are both members and nonmembers.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 at 9:11 am and is filed under CE9. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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on Dec22 10I completely agree with your view on the Marthas. On the outside they are sweet and loving and on the inside they are picky and stuck up. When Heather is first trying to fit in with the Marthas she gets her first project. In the book the author writes,” Heather’s first Martha project is to decorate the faculty lounge for a Thanksgiving party/ faculty meeting. She corners me after lunch and begs me to help her. She thinks that the Marthas have given her an impossible job so they can dump her.” (Page 43) It seems that the Marthas have given her a nice fun job in the beginning of the quote but later you find out that Heather thinks that they just want to dump her. In my opinion the Marthas need a reality check. They need to understand that doing nice things that people can see on the outside doesn’t mean that you are nice on the inside. If I were Heather I would find a new group to hang out with.
on Dec22 10Megan, I agree with your view on how selfish the Martha’s can really be. When you write that “This doesn’t seem to be what a community service club should be like. A real service club takes time out of there lives to help others and don’t ask for anything in return.” It proves your point that even though the Martha’s try to be perfect, they fall short of their goal. Your main idea is supported many times through out the book, like when Heather has to collect cans of food and “Apparently beets are Not Good Enough. They only collect food they like to eat.” You did a nice job of picking out certain quotes to prove a point.
on Jan3 10I second the agreement with the Marthas. Here at school we have a Community Service club that doesn’t ask for anything. All the Marthas want is attention. Actually Molly if you look further in the book it says “She launches into a sob story about how much she hates being a Marthadrone. Indentured servitude would be better. They are just taking advantage of her, bossing her around.” (Page 177) Heather wants to find a new group but feels no one would like her if she didn’t have any group to hang out with. The book also says that Heather’s grades dropped to low B’s because she’s been spending so much time trying to make them happy. High school is rough and most people would do anything to impress others to be liked.