In Danzinger's debut 1974 novel The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, Marcy Lewis is a self-conscious, overweight thirteen-year-old with a verbally abusive father, a four-year-old brother whose only friend is his ratty teddy bear, and a mother who is too afraid to stand up to Marcy's chauvanistic father. Marcy is failing gym because she is too embarrassed to let other students see her in a gymsuit, and, as a result, makes up a barrage of excuses to the gym teacher as to why she can't participate. Marcy lives in her popular friend Nancy Sheridan's shadow, whom she thinks only hangs out with her out of pity and obligation to her mother.
Marcy's life changes for the better when the new English teacher Barbara Finney enters her life. A progressive and free thinker, Ms. Finney challenges the students to examine their perceptions of literature, language and life rather than just teaching them grammar and sentence structure. Unlike other "classroom-minded" teachers, she does things like presenting films to the students and taking them to the local hospital to visit sick children and read to them. Ms. Finney forms an after-school club called Smedley for the students and Marcy, afraid to speak her mind for fear of ridicule from other students, joins and begins to foster connections with the other students as well as a sense of self-worth. Through the club she gets to know the outspoken, intelligent Joel Anderson whom she develops a romantic interest in.
Conflicts and Resolution
But progressive thinking is deemed radical and unacceptable at the high-school, and the principal is outraged. Ms. Finney is removed from her teaching position and Marcy, Joel and a group of other students form an alliance to get her back. They circulate a petition in support of her and are suspended from school as a result. Some parents, including Marcy's father, are angry at the students for causing trouble, but Marcy's actions force her mother to examine her own life and take action towards self-empowerment, such as standing up for Marcy when her father says nasty things to her and signing up for night classes at the local community college.
With the support of her peers, and in spite of the trouble she faces with the principal at school, Marcy realizes that she must stand up for something she feels passionately about, no matter what the repercussions. There is a hearing held for Ms. Finney and the results surprise everyone.
Major Themes
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, published in the wake of the Vietnam war, the Watergate scandal and during a time when women's liberation was a new and radical thing, The novel examines themes of women's empowerment, freedom of speech, and fighting an authority that refuses to listen to what its youth has to say. Although Danzinger wrote this novel more than thirty years ago, teen readers today will still find its messages relevant and compelling.
Danzinger, Paula. The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, Delacorte Press 1974, ISBN 0-698-11684-4
