The Summer I Turned Pretty Essay Questions

Why is the narrator nicknamed Belly? Why is this nickname significant?

Belly’s real name, Isabel, is disregarded by almost all the characters of The Summer I Turned Pretty for the infantilizing nickname “Belly.” She explains to Cam that the nickname first arose in her interactions with her dad, in which she would communicate her moods through the names of Jelly Belly (a brand of jelly bean candy) flavors. For whatever reason, the name stuck, a fact that Belly herself dislikes: “I'd always hated the name Belly…It was a child's nickname…Belly was the kind of name that conjured up images of plump children or men in wifebeaters.” The infantilizing element of this nickname is especially noteworthy because throughout the novel, Belly bemoans being considered “a little girl” by Conrad. It is along with the slow shedding of Belly’s identity of a little girl that characters like Cam begin to call Belly by a new name—Belle, which means “beautiful.”

What is the significance of Belly’s birthday being an annual event at the beach house?

“Every birthday [Belly has] ever had has been in [Susannah’s beach house].” A photo album chronicles her entire existence through snapshots of her birthdays through the years. Over the years, the celebration takes on a ritualistic symbolism in not only the commemoration of her birth, but also the recognition that it is time to put the carefree fantasy world of summer behind and head back to the quotidian reality. This particular year also marks one of those birthday landmarks that symbolize a turning point in maturation—it is the year she turns 16, the one in which she also “turns pretty.” From this moment forth, summer has begun to end, and so has Belly’s childhood.

How does Clay’s Fourth of July bonfire mark a turning point for Belly?

Belly has never attended a party until the older Clay Bertolet personally invites her to his annual July 4th bonfire. While Jeremiah and Conrad are already veteran partygoers, Belly is excited, nervous, and feels out-of-place when she first arrives—the party serves as an initiation of sorts for her that introduces her to a new world. This new world is more “adult”—having been excluded from parties for being too much of a “kid” in previous years, Belly will now face discomfort as well as excitement as she enters into this new landscape of adult existence. The bonfire also serves as the place where she will meet Cam, another initiation rite of sorts for her: he will be the first boy she dates—and just as Clay’s party does, this relationship will form part of the landscape of the new adult world that Belly is entering.

Why do Conrad, Jeremiah, and Belly create a whirlpool in Chapter 44?

The whirlpool, made by Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah’s bodies in motion, is a symbol that represents both playful childishness and its termination in adulthood or coming-of-age. The three adolescents jump into the pool and behave like “kids” one more time before Belly must leave for home, all three recognizing that this will be the final chapter of their childhood summers: regardless of whether the three convene again at Cousins Beach next year, things will be different. A whirlpool pulls things into its currents, and Belly embraces this pull, allowing herself to literally (in this moment) and symbolically (in the grander scheme of her life) “let the current carry [her].” At the same time, the image of the whirlpool also contributes to a foreshadowing of conflict to come—created by the clash of conflicting currents, whirlpools can carry bodies entrapped in them in dangerous directions. If Belly has surrendered herself to the whirlpool of life, different, potentially dangerous currents may yet carry her away.

How does Belly’s relationship with Laurel change over the course of the novel?

At the beginning of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly thinks of her mother as an unemotional, unerringly rational figure—preoccupied always with doing the practical thing and uninterested in hearing Belly’s tales about boys, dresses, and teenage girlhood. This practicality is contrasted with Susannah’s relative frivolity—as another mother-figure for Belly, Susannah provides the warmth, gossip, and interest in Belly’s interiority that Laurel does not. However, over the course of the summer, Belly’s opinion of her mother slowly changes, and this change is catalyzed in the moment when, in Chapter 43, she realizes that it was Laurel, and not Susannah, who had gone back to the mall and purchased the expensive purple dress that Belly had wanted. Belly comes closer to realizing just how much Laurel loves her, despite not showing this love in the same way that Susannah does. Belly comes to understanding, perhaps for the first time (and in Susannah’s words), that “[she's] the luckiest girl in the world to have [Laurel] for a mother.”