49 pages • 1 hour read
Jennifer MathieuMoxie
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 19-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary
At a sleepover, Vivian and her friends educate Lucy about East Rockport High’s version of March Madness. The upperclassmen create brackets ranking girls on their perceived attractiveness, and then they vote. The final girl is referred to as Most Fuckable. Everything is shared online. Claudia is listed in a bracket, and she says it’s gross, but now she’s curious to see if she’ll advance. Vivian is angry that the girls are being ranked on their physical appearance. Kiera Daniels is also in the bracket, and her boyfriend, a football player, brags about it. Kiera says she wishes the girls could do something again, like the bake sale. Vivian realizes she misses Moxie and “finding a way to fight back against all the bullshit in this school” (246). When Seth reminds her not all guys are like that, Vivian points out that doesn’t help because plenty of guys are like that. Vivian realizes that she didn’t create Moxie to be cool or different but because “I sincerely wanted to change East Rockport High School. Maybe I was naïve to think I could, but deep down I believed it might happen” (247). Vivian creates the fourth Moxie zine, which points out that the March Madness objectifies women.
Chapter 20 Summary
Lucy is thrilled that Moxie is back but notes that there’s no call to action this time; instead, the zine just sounds angry. Again, Lucy wonders who is behind Moxie. Vivian spends time with her grandparents. Her grandmother asks her what’s wrong, but Vivian doesn’t feel Meemaw would understand Moxie. Seth stops over at her house, and Vivian tries to explain that she got upset at feeling he was belittling her distress or telling her to just wait to get out. Vivian reflects that making Moxie doesn’t necessarily make her happy, but it’s “Important, maybe. Necessary? Definitely” (259).
At school, Kiera shares that she has organized a girls-only Moxie arts and crafts show, renting the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. Kiera broke up with her boyfriend because she didn’t like how he was treating her. In English class, Vivian sees Emma Johnson, who won the Most Fuckable Girl competition. She remembers how the Riot Grrrls claimed feminism was for all girls, but Vivian decides not to give Emma a flyer about the event.
Chapter 21 Summary
Vivian and her friends bring treats to sell at the arts and crafts show. They look at the various crafts on display. More girls arrive, and a party atmosphere starts to prevail, which includes spiked drinks. Vivians notes the girls are “for once ignoring the unspoken dividing lines of race and class and grade and popularity that we’ve always lived by” (268). She notes the joy and feels like a Riot Grrrl. Kiera announces that they’ve raised enough money to buy the girls’ soccer team new uniforms, and the girls dance. Vivian reflects that “this is what it means to be a feminist. Not a humanist or an equalist or whatever. But a feminist. It’s not a bad word” (269). Outside the hall, Vivian sees Marisela in an embrace with another girl, Jane. Vivian promises not to say anything, realizing that in a town like East Rockport, the girls wouldn’t want it known that they are together. Her mom asks what Moxie is, but Vivian goes to bed.
At school, there is another flyer calling for a Moxie walkout on Friday. The author of the flyer claims that Mitchell Wilson tried to rape her at a party and that Principal Wilson, and the administration refused to listen. The flyer calls for all girls to support a movement that refuses to tolerate violence against girls.
Chapter 22 Summary
The call for a walkout creates a somber atmosphere. Seth points out that rape is “a really big accusation to make against a guy” (279). He thinks the girl who made the flyer should have let the school handle it. Vivian is angry with him and walks away. Principal Wilson announces that any girl who walks out on Friday will be suspended and expelled. He claims the administration is looking into allegations and that the safety of students is a top concern. The girls talk about whether they want to risk expulsion for the walkout. Even Claudia is tempted, knowing that Principal Wilson will protect his son from any accusations.
Lucy is suspended by Principal Wilson, who is looking for a scapegoat. Vivian confesses that, inspired by the Riot Grrrls, she started Moxie. Lucy is delighted but understands why Vivian didn’t own it, reflecting, “Moxie was almost more powerful because it didn’t have a leader, you know?” (287). But Lucy also worries that nothing at East Rockport High is going to change. She thinks she should have just kept her head down and worked with the system so she could get out and go to college. She understands that Seth, even if he’s a good guy, doesn’t get the sexism because he hasn’t lived it. Vivian is reminded of the Audre Lorde quote.
Vivian discusses the walkout with her mom, who complains that nothing has changed in all these years. Lisa tells Vivian one of the things she loved about Vivian’s father was that she could snap or get mad, but he still loved and accepted her for who she was. Lisa reminds Vivian that Seth has been “indoctrinated with the same bullshit” (293) and he’s still learning, too. Lisa admits her concerns but says Vivian has to make her own choice about the walkout, and Lisa will love and support her no matter what. Vivian doesn’t tell her mother she started Moxie because it feels like she would be giving it to a grown-up and taking it away from the girls.
Vivian follows what her classmates are saying online. Kiera has posted a quote from Angela Davis, a Black feminist who was imprisoned for her activism.
Chapter 23 Summary
The walkout is set to happen during Vivian’s English class. She is intensely nervous. Her teacher’s lecture is on John Steinbeck, a Nobel-prize winning author whose works address social injustice. When the bell rings, Vivian feels frozen.
Emma Johnson stands up and writes MOXIE in marker on her arm. Then she says, “Mitchell […] fuck you” and walks out (298). Vivian jumps up to follow her. In the hallway as they walk outside, Emma admits she made the flyer. More girls join them, including Claudia. They march as a group. Vivian notes all sorts of shoes and hair colors and styles. They step outside, and Vivian sees Seth and a group of other guys standing to the side.
Vivian calls for attention. Emma reveals that Mitchell Wilson assaulted her at a party, and a girl shouts, “We believe you!” (303). Emma says she tried using the proper channels to inform authorities, but Principal Wilson told her she’d imagined the attack and should forget about it. Emma wants everyone to know.
Principal Wilson and other administrators come outside, shouting that all the girls will be expelled. The assistant principal starts writing down their names. Vivian announces that she made the zines and the stickers. Other girls start adding that they contributed to Moxie, too. Emma shouts that they won’t be quiet anymore and uses her cheerleader voice to lead the girls in a chant of “We are Moxie” (305). They shout so loud they drown out the principal on his bullhorn, and Vivian thinks she wants to remember this moment when she’s 100. She feels that they’ve won. She and Emma hug.
Chapter 24 Summary
Claudia and Vivian walk home. Claudia confesses that she wouldn’t have gotten it at first, but now, she’s proud that Vivian made Moxie. They learn Lucy has posted about their walkout online and the images are going viral. Lisa says she realizes Vivian, who’s more like her than Lisa realized, is growing up. Lisa is worried but proud and tells Viv she will fight Principal Wilson if he thinks he’s going to kick girls out of school to cover up an attempted rape. Seth comes over and says he will try to listen better, and they kiss.
Chapter 25 Summary
On the last day of school, the students chat and pack up their things while their new principal makes announcements. When Principal Wilson tried to pursue expelling half the girls in his school, the school board learned he had been funneling money to the football program instead of purchasing other school equipment. He resigned and left town, taking Mitchell with him. When the bell rings, Vivian talks with Emma and invites her to the Moxie sleepover Lucy is organizing. Emma tells Vivian that Principal Wilson was the one who told her to run for vice president rather than president of student council, and he made her talk to the girls at the assembly. Emma put the Moxie stickers on Principal Wilson’s truck. Though things are mostly back to normal, Viv thinks some energy has changed, “an energy that is a revolutionary soul force made by girls for girls” (325). Emma says she made spreadsheets about how to expand Moxie. Vivian looks forward to seeing them.
Chapters 19-25 Analysis
Appropriate for the fourth act, this section holds the climax of the action as well as the resolution and denouement. The impetus for the turning point is the sexist March Madness game, which the girls detest because they are aware they are being pitted against one another in rankings that objectify them on their sexual attractiveness. This game is another indication to Vivian that things haven’t really changed at East Rockport High, and even when she makes a fourth zine to express her anger, it doesn’t have the same impact; there is intensity, but not a call to action, and Vivian realizes what she really wanted was change—the goal of most social activism.
Along the theme of Activism, Tradition, and Change, these chapters show that groups that are communally led are able to adapt to different occasions and needs. Kiera’s organizing the arts and crafts show is a further extension of the Moxie label, geared toward supporting girls and creating a safe space for them to mingle and express themselves. The joy and freedom the girls experience is fostered by the absence of authorities trying to control their actions or men evaluating their appeal. Importantly, this is the first moment when barriers disappear, showing the intersectional nature of the group. This ability to be together for celebration—overcoming Cliques, Outsiders, and the Fear of Standing Out—lends the girls the ability to come together for mutual support when the purpose is more serious.
Vivian realizes the benefit of not claiming ownership of Moxie is that others feel free to contribute, so the movement can grow in ways she hadn’t imagined. More and more, she feels that Moxie belongs to all the girls of East Rockport. But she is also keeping the secret in part to remain safe from threat or retaliation, the way she agrees to keep secret the relationship between Marisela and Jane. Vivian knows that a same-sex relationship would not be accepted in her town, and she doesn’t want the girls to be ridiculed or harmed.
Vivian realizes there is a dark side to secrets when Principal Wilson covers up his son’s attempted rape of Emma Johnson. When Emma wins the March Madness competition, her status as a desirable sexual object is sealed. Mitchell’s crime shows that this status does not afford her protection or respect but makes her even more vulnerable to violence or harm. Not only does Mitchell exhibit his lack of respect for women’s agency and bodily integrity in perpetrating a crime, but Emma is then denied proper redress for this crime by persons in authority. Making her claims public and organizing an act of civil disobedience are ways to enlist community support to pressure the administration into acting. Principal Wilson attempts to use his position, inappropriately, to cover up his son’s crime. Moxie has reached the pinnacle of social activism as a tool for challenging a system that willingly allows crimes against its vulnerable members so people in power can protect a privileged few. The sense of Maturity, Agency, and Independence emerges when Vivian thinks of the walking girls as a march. She doesn’t question that their cause is just, and what they are fighting for is a system that will dispense justice to all.
In addition to enlisting all the girls who want to participate, Vivian realizes that a feminist movement needs to educate men, as the conflict with Seth proves. Seth continues his “not all men” position and encourages Vivian to put up with an oppressive system until she can escape it, rather than challenging the system. Seth brings up the question of representation, and Vivian wonders whether he can truly understand how it feels to have his bodily integrity violated, something the girls deal with daily. In the end, Seth proves an ally not just by walking out with other boys but by pledging to listen and learn from the people who are being discriminated against.
Vivian’s coming-of-age is sealed not just by the harmony of her romantic relationship but by claiming her part in creating Moxie, which has taken on its own life with the input of other girls. She has grown from the dutiful girl who doesn’t speak up to someone willing to fight for the change she sees as necessary. She realizes her goal is not anger but positive change that will make life better for others. She is aided in this growth when her mother allows Vivian to make her own decision about the walkout. Unlike Principal Wilson, who is trying to force compliance, Lisa knows it is crucial to Vivian’s growth that she define and stand by her own morals and beliefs, then deal with the consequences of those choices. The ability to speak out against unfairness bonds them, and their connection is strengthened as Lisa recognizes and validates the young woman her daughter is becoming.
Principal Wilson’s villainy is underscored by his financial irresponsibility with school money, and it is this practice, rather than how he dealt with instances of sexual assault, that finally defeats him. This suggests that Moxie has not been a fairy-tale fix, but rather, the girls realize the work of fighting sexism is ongoing. There’s an optimistic ending, however, in the image of the girls coming together in a sleepover to plan Moxie’s future. Inviting Emma to join them and, moreover, being open to her ideas shows Vivian’s confidence, independence, understanding, and willingness to accept and learn from new people, even those whom she perceived as different. The novel ends with a wry statement on high school life but suggests a promising future for these girls, one where they will be allowed to realize their potential.
