62 pages • 2 hours read
Ben PhilippeField Guide to the North American Teenager
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 30-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 30 Summary: “The Drunk Dial”
Norris’s field guide lists three types of drunk dial: lonely, angry, and weepy.
Drunkenly, Norris calls Eric, who’s with Marc-André on a date. Norris is curt and struggles to control his tone or remember his words. Eric tries to find out why Norris called when he’s never been much of a caller, but Norris unconvincingly tells Eric it was a pocket dial and hangs up.
Norris then calls his dad and calls him a deadbeat. Felix is amused that Norris has called him drunk. He asks if Norris is safe. Norris rants about his jock and cheerleader friends hating him after tonight. When Felix pushes for more information about Norris’s location, Norris tells Felix to focus on his new family. Norris hangs up.
A police officer pulls up to check if Norris is okay. Norris tries to get his thoughts under control, but he ends up cursing at the officer instead.
Chapter 31 Summary: “The Teenage Miscreant”
Norris’s field guide describes mouthing off to a white cop, not thinking, and alcohol-borne confidence.
Norris spends the night in the police holding room. He wishes his mom were there, and soon enough, she arrives to get him. Judith drives Norris home in tense, angry silence. Norris begins to feel hungover from his bottle of champagne.
Judith finally speaks to Norris when they get home, lecturing him about the trust she’s put in him to make smart decisions as a Black male teenager. Judith emphasizes that Norris could have easily been another statistic. She reminds him of famous cases where innocent Black teens have been killed, like Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. Judith apologizes to Norris that life is unfair to him in this way. She laments bringing him to the middle of Texas.
Chapter 32 Summary: “The Postprom Hangover”
Norris’s field guide mentions a headache, dry mouth, and regret.
Norris sleeps in late, and when he finally wakes up, his dad is waiting in the kitchen with Judith. Felix flew in the moment he learned Norris was arrested. Felix is merciful on Norris’s hangover. He asks what Norris wants to do next.
Norris considers the friends and connections he’s made in Austin. He remembers the bargain he made with Judith on the first day of school. He feels he really did try his best, and now he’s ruined it all. Norris says he’s ready to go home to Canada.
Chapter 33 Summary: “The Big Goodbye”
Norris’s field guide contains a checklist of things to do before leaving Austin, including goodbyes to Liam, Maddie, and Aarti.
Norris finishes his final exams with ease, hoping to close the Austin chapter of his life. Norris will be staying with his dad in Vancouver for the summer while Judith finishes the summer semester and arranges for them to move back to Quebec.
Norris tries to catch Maddie outside the school dance studio to apologize, but he’s intercepted by Meredith, who won’t let him near Maddie. When Norris tells Liam he’s leaving, Liam calls Norris a “poker,” accusing him of poking people and running away to make himself the victim. He wants Norris to stay and clean up the mess he’s made. When Liam drops Norris off at home, he acknowledges he’s reacting poorly to the news. Norris envies Liam’s ability to express himself without his ego attached.
Norris hasn’t spoken to anyone else. Meredith won’t let Norris near Maddie, and neither Aarti nor Maddie will respond to his texts. Norris thinks that’s a clear statement to leave them alone.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Closure”
Norris’s field guide lists possible ways to handle saying goodbye to an ex-girlfriend.
Norris goes to Aarti’s house, but Mr. Puri informs him that Aarti is at her photo exhibit. Norris pretends to know about the exhibit, so Mr. Puri offers Norris a ride. In the car, Mr. Puri and Norris discuss summer plans. Mr. Puri says Aarti will be visiting her cousins in Boston. He hopes she’ll tour the colleges there. He feels she has a great start on an application, and he’s proud of her photography.
Aarti’s work is at a public gallery. The attendees speak highly of Aarti’s photos. Norris catches Aarti’s eye across the way, but she turns her back to him. Norris wanders around, admiring Aarti’s work. He finds a picture of himself that Aarti snapped while he rode as a passenger in her car.
Aarti approaches, and Norris asks if they can talk. He apologizes for how things went on prom night and acknowledges that he may have had a crush on Maddie without realizing it. He tells Aarti he’s going back to Canada. Aarti is angry that he’s making her first exhibit about him and trying to absolve his guilt. Aarti rants that she thought Norris would be normal, but he’s exhausting like every other guy. When Aarti calms down, she asks if Norris was in love with her. Norris chooses his words carefully. He admits he liked holding her attention because it made him feel interesting.
Aarti and Norris both acknowledge they were hung up on other people, as Aarti never got over Ian and Norris liked Maddie. Aarti and Norris agree to be long-distance friends. Norris feels Aarti has an interesting future ahead. Norris texts Maddie that he’s leaving for Canada and asks if he can see her to apologize, but Maddie says no.
Chapter 35 Summary: “Airport Analysis”
Norris’s field guide entry mentions self-reflection, life changes, and flight changes.
Judith drops Norris and Felix off at the airport. Norris apologizes to Judith as he says goodbye, but she assures him she loves him and just wants him to be happy.
Norris realizes he’s sad to leave Austin. Felix asks about Norris’s Austin friends and hockey team. Norris shows Felix pictures of Liam, Aarti, and Maddie. Felix can tell Maddie likes Norris from the photo. Norris feels bad that he was oblivious to both Maddie’s and his own feelings. Felix thinks Norris had a pretty good life in Austin. Norris feels he messed it up, but Felix replies that it’s how he responds to the mess that matters.
Norris flips through the entries of his notebook and feels sick. He wonders why Aarti found them funny. He can tell how insecure and bitter he sounds. He realizes that he needs to learn to tone down these traits. Norris asks Felix if he can stay in Austin.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Movie-Magic Endings”
Norris’s field guide entry describes the movie trope of racing through the airport to declare one’s love for someone or change their heart. He adds that this did not happen.
Norris takes a cab home from the airport and stops at the Bone Yard first. Norris finds Maddie in the back. Norris makes a long, apologetic speech about how he feels about prom night and about Maddie. He ends with an observation that they would be great together. He asks if he can take her on a proper date. He wants to prove to her that he isn’t an irredeemable jerk. Maddie turns Norris down, commenting on the ratio of drama to hotness a guy needs. She tells him to use the public exit. Norris arrives home to his angry mother. He declares that movie endings are lies.
Epilogue Summary
July in Texas brings sweltering heat, but Norris has gotten more used to it. Liam and Norris both work at the Bone Yard now, tag-teaming deliveries. Norris has gotten a provisional driver’s license. Norris and Liam find Maddie and her friends in Big Jim’s office. They update her on their deliveries. Maddie gives Norris a hard time but is sweet to Liam. Maddie is in charge while her parents are on a cruise. Norris and Maddie banter. He still wants another chance with her.
Meredith reveals that another guy is interested in Maddie, so Norris offers dating lessons. Maddie thinks Norris will eventually give up, but Norris holds steady. He declares that they’re 304 days from the next prom. He speculates about what color corsage to get her. Maddie hasn’t explicitly told Norris no, so he hopes to get her to come around in the next 300 days or so. He knows happy endings are artificial because life keeps going. Norris pictures what his future in Austin looks like. He knows this is just the beginning.
Chapter 30-Epilogue Analysis
The final six chapters and Epilogue of the novel contain the falling action as Norris deals with the consequences of prom night. These chapters bring the novel and Norris’s conflicts with himself, his peers, and the city of Austin to a close.
The theme of The Influence of Stereotypes on Judgment comes to the forefront in Chapters 30 and 31 when Norris is arrested for cursing at a cop while drunk in public. Not only does Norris’s mouth cause a problem for him—a motif for The Impact of Words—but it lands him in a situation that he and his mother have feared the entire novel: a confrontation with a police officer. Judith reminds Norris, “You’re not a handsome blue-eyed Ken doll who’s going to get a slap on the wrist every time he messes up” (319-20). She tells him that he was a coin flip from being like Trayvon Martin or Tamir Rice—two famous cases of innocent Black teenage boys who were killed by an armed citizen and a police officer respectively. Judith knows that Norris faces danger as a Black teen boy because of the way Black men and boys are profiled and judged by police officers in the United States. Judith and Norris’s conversation underscores how racial stereotyping in law enforcement creates fear and danger for Black men. This interaction explores a more serious side of The Influence of Stereotypes on Judgment. Norris previously engaged with stereotypes in a lighthearted, lower-stakes way: He took pleasure in applying stereotypes to his classmates, damaging some of his relationships but ultimately not extending past the boundaries of typical high school drama. However, as Judith expresses, racist and anti-Black stereotypes can have deadly results. By contrasting Norris’s immature, carefree use of stereotypes to split his peers up into “jocks” and “loners” with stereotypes that uphold systemic racism, the narrative emphasizes Norris’s youth, highlighting the injustice of a society that forces Black teenagers like Norris to fear for their lives due to their race.
As the novel draws to a close, the culmination of Norris’s character arc illustrates his newfound sense of responsibility for his past judgments and mistakes. In Chapter 32, Norris thinks about the deal he made with Judith in Chapter 2, where he promised to give Austin a fair try before bowing out. Norris feels that despite trying his best, all he got in return was failure. However, in Chapter 33, Liam challenges Norris’s perception of his time in Austin. Liam calls Norris “a poker,” telling him, “You don’t fight; you poke, and then run away […] Maybe so you can feel rightfully victimized” (331). Liam sees that Norris struggled in Austin because of his own actions and words, and he encourages Norris to “stay and clean [the mess] up” (331). Norris considers Liam’s words in Chapter 35 as he thumbs through his field guide, which he’s carried with him through the airport. As Norris reads the “bitter rants” and “mean asides,” he realizes how lonely and insecure he sounds. By examining his words, Norris realizes that he’s responsible for the mess he’s made and decides to stay—a gesture that indicates his commitment to changing and fixing the problems he’s created. Norris acknowledges that “[m]aybe the whole point of approaching life as origami […] [is] learning to fold your sharp edges” (353). Norris’s allusion to Paper Family indicates that he understands the character’s loneliness from a new perspective, illustrating his growth since that early date with Aarti.
Despite alluding to Paper Family, Norris’s dependence on movies to guide his perspective dissolves in Chapter 36 and the Epilogue. At the end of Chapter 36, Norris makes a heartfelt apology to Maddie, and she rejects his offer to take her on a proper date, leading Norris to believe “[a]ll movies are lies” as things do not work out for him the way they do in movies (359). By the Epilogue, however, Norris’s change in perspective and optimistic outlook are apparent, and his acknowledgment that movies are unrealistic begins to serve him constructively. Norris realizes that “[h]appy endings [are] artificial things” and feels “things [can] be endings, but only if you [decide] to make them so. Otherwise, things just […] [continue] forward” (366). Despite not getting his happy ending with Maddie, Norris has learned that movies are not the way to measure his experiences. Norris has also adopted a positive outlook about living in Austin: “The future—his future, in Austin, Texas—was only just beginning. Norris was looking forward to it” (367). In the end, Norris has made amends with the people he’s hurt and found a way to soften his edges so as not to drive away the people who care about him.
