The story Noodle Soup for Nincompoops by Ellen Wittlinger focuses on the main character, Maggie Cluny. She is a quiet girl, who is only her full self around her best friend, Liza. When Maggie's english teacher, Mr. Chrisman, asks her to write a funny column in the school newspaper, she is shocked, but ultimately accepts. She answers letters from the students in a funny way, using the alias Faustina Intelligentsia. The students love the column, but can't figure out who wrote it. Between writing in secret and public interaction, she learns a lot about herself and who she is. In the end, a boy named Robbie finds out it was her, and they become good friends. This story illuminated character development and how important it is to be yourself at …show more content…
This made many of her important conversations in the story internal, as she was the only one who could contemplate the effects of her writing the column. She did this a lot, wondering about Faustina and if people would ever find out if it was her. The narration also shows lots of her thoughts on herself, and how people in public viewed her. One of these instances was right after the first issue of her column came out, as Wittlinger stated, "Everybody was talking about my column and trying to guess who'd written it. They were guessing all the obviously funny kids....All these kids wanted to know who I was! Now I really didn't want them to find out because I knew they'd be disappointed that it was just me, Maggie Cluny." (197). The narration shows that she did not classify herself as one of those "obviously funny kids", but as a more subdued one. In the end, she ends up learning that she can break that barrier, and be one of those funny kids. She learned that through her column, and the rough Robbie, her friend.

This story shows character development and identity through the eyes of Maggie Cluny. She was a quiet girl, who learned a lot about herself through her alter ego, Faustina. She learns that you can be yourself around everyone, and that everyone will accept you for who you are, as Robbie did when he found out she was Faustina. Through Maggie's conversations with Liza, and the narration, you can see