Be Prepared

The first portion of the graphic novel Be Prepared introduces one of the text’s essential themes: The Challenges of Adolescence. The main character, Vera, is an awkward nine-year-old girl who wants to be accepted by her peers and gain friends more than anything else in the world. Her desire to be accepted is so great that she has distilled the idea of “normal” girlhood down to its component parts. Each component of the ideal birthday party is shown in its in panel, drawn in great detail, emphasizing the specificity of these pieces of normalcy, as well as the degree to which Vera has studied and reflected on them.

There are also unspoken aspects to “fitting in,” which Vera struggles with due to a variety of factors. For example, Vera does not have a “fancy historical doll,” which based on textual and visual context is meant to refer to the American Girl dolls of the 1990s and early 2000s. Her family cannot afford such a doll, but rather than admit this fact to her peers and risk not fitting in, she lies and says she left hers at home. Still, Vera struggles to feel included at the party and eventually sneaks off to the kitchen alone. It is significant that, while she is by herself in the kitchen, she makes herself a mug of leftover ice cream cake and sits at the counter reading the historical doll catalog. It is as if Vera believes that the more she is able to consume and study the items that reflect a normal childhood, the more likely she will be able to fit in with the other girls.

What Vera learns, however, is that fitting in is not as formulaic as copying the components of a birthday party. When she throws her own sleepover birthday party, she does her best to replicate her experience at her friend’s house, but she is unsuccessful. This is partially because she doesn’t get the details quite right; the food is slightly different. However, there are also other reasons that Vera is unable to adequately fit in with and create a fun time for her peers, and she has trouble identifying and understanding these differences. For example, her family lives in a relatively small apartment, and she does not have her own bedroom. She also tries too hard to force fun and games, which makes the other girls uncomfortable. In one panel, which depicts all the girls lying down in Vera’s shared bedroom, getting ready for bed, the room is cast in darkness, so that it is almost difficult to see the details on the girls’ faces. What is visible is their looks of confusion and trepidation. This foreshadows the eventual outcome of Vera’s party; all of the girls ask their parents to come pick them up in the middle of the night because they are frightened or uncomfortable. Vera’s earnest attempts at fitting in fall short.

A key reason for Vera’s struggles stems from her cultural background and how it separates her from the everyday experiences of her peers. Unlike her friends, she is Russian and an immigrant. Therefore, Vera’s difficulty fitting in is also tied to another key theme: The Significance of Culture and Heritage to Identity. Vera’s Russian heritage is an important aspect of who she is, even as she tries to disavow it in favor of being more typically American. Nevertheless, the connections to her Russian community are what allow her to have a party in the first place. Her cake, a traditional Russian medovik tort rather than an ice cream cake, is donated by a family friend. The pizza is a gift from the local restaurant Dimitri’s, the owner of which is another close acquaintance. Vera also offers her party guests kvass, an eastern European drink similar to a mix between soda and kombucha, without considering how unfamiliar it would be for them. When her guests leave in the middle of the night, Vera assumes that her inability to be accepted stems from her unique cultural heritage, which is what prompts her to seek out opportunities to be accepted by those of the same culture. She reflects on how she feels at home during Russian Orthodox church services and is thrilled to learn that the “typical American” experience of summer camp is accessible to her, in the form of the Russian ORRA camp. She jumps at the opportunity to make friends with kids more like her, from the same background, and to no longer feel like an outsider. Vera views embracing her culture and heritage as the solution to her long-standing problem of fitting in with her peers.