penmanship medal? Ok, we all know Rhoda was psycho, but she excelled in polite manners, school work etc. What I'm trying to ask is, has anyone ever thought that just maybe Ms. Fern didn't award that medal to Rhoda out of spite? She didn't like Rhoda and was completely justified in not liking her. I just have that feeling every time I watch this movie.
The medal apparently was for the most improved handwriting. Someone could have had horrible penmanship at the beginning but improved more than the other kids. Even if Rhoda still had better penmanship at the end than Claude apparently his changed the most from the beginning of the school year to the end. I know Ms. Fern did not like Rhoda but I think she probably awarded prizes fairly. I get the feeling that Rhoda tended to excel at most things and often won prizes. For example the book she won at Sunday school. I think she was completely shocked that she did not win the award. She is a sociopath and a narcissist who thinks she deserves to win everything. Remember she said at the beginning "I just don't see how Claude Daigle got the medal" AS if it never occurred to her there was a possibility that she might not win.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
Exactly right, this point was elaborated on in the novel by one of the Misses Fern (I seem to remember that there were more than one). In fact, I recall her explaining to Christine at the picnic that Rhoda actually had the best penmanship but given that Claude had shown the most improvement, it was awarded to him. Rhoda's not only a sociopath (I think they've gone back to "psychopath" and "psychopathy," BTW) and a narcissist but is unable to comprehend that she doesn't actually qualify for the medal. So under the circumstances, the medal was awarded without bias (this isn't even at issue in the novel).
shareMost children cannot reason or comprehend the difference, but they don't kill anybody, The complexity of this is that children are narcissistic by nature
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Improved penmanship my foot. Claude - a very suspicious fellow - surely cheated. He was deliberately scribbling at the beginning of school year to convince everyone he had a bad handwriting and then gradually started writing better so that he could win the medal at the end. Rhoda saw his game and rightly punished him!
shareApparently in the book(or the play) the medal is for Penmanship Improvement. If that was the case and his handwriting improved, he should have gotten the medal.
However, I also have seen in real life kids and adults getting prizes when they really don't deserve them. There was recently a case of a librarian who ran a reading contest. The same boy won every year so she wouldn't let him participate anymore. I don't believe in giving prizes or awards to someone just to be nice. Give it to the person who is the best or most skilled because that's how life works.
If Rhoda didn't get the medal and she really did have the best writing, then I can't blame her for being pissed. Doesn't mean she should have killed him though.
Have you seen the tv remake they did in the eighties which used to play once in a while. Anyway in that version the medal was for the most improved handwriting too. Ha ha and guess what she says to the boy who won it at the picnic(in this version they show her committing the murders). She asks to see the medal because its really hers and when he says "thats a lie I won it fair and square" she says "no you didn't you cheated you just pretended to write bad when school started so it would look like you improved the most" LOL my god.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
The medal was for most improved. I won similar awards in school for tennis and swimming. (Only crummy certificates--I should have held out for medals!) Not because I ended being the best at them, but because I started being unable to do them at all! There was nowhere to go but up!
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