58 pages • 1 hour read
You Should See Me in a Crown
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Part 7, Chapters 35-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 7: "Week Six"
Chapter 35 Summary
By the end of the weekend, Robbie is officially well enough to go home. Before Robbie is discharged, Liz’s Granny goes on a walk with her to talk. Granny apologies to Liz for how much she has allowed her to take on. Granny tells Liz about her mom, about how she had asked Granny to ensure that Liz and Robbie stuck together. It is one of the final wishes that Liz’s mother had, and the reason why Granny is so strict about everyone being home to eat dinner together. Liz cries and Granny holds her. Granny tells her that Liz’s mother wanted to run for prom queen too. She tells her that she kept Liz’s mother from running, that they were afraid of how Campbell would treat her.
In an act of atonement for always asking Liz’s mom to slow down because of her illness, Granny doesn’t “want to tell you not to burn as fast and as bright as you can” (175). In this moment, Granny admits that she sees and recognizes Liz’s hard work and her ambition. Beyond that, Granny also tells Liz that she has also been pulling extra shifts to save up money to help Liz. She tells Liz, “I got you when you’re ready to rest” (175). Granny never left Liz to fend for herself, and Johnson displays the different types of support that the people around Liz offer. Liz has been pushing herself so hard so that she won’t be a burden on her grandparents, but Granny now offers her recognition and relief. Granny has Liz’s back, and now Liz knows it.
Chapter 36 Summary
Liz and her friends are in the cafeteria in the week before prom. Things have been relatively calm; Liz and Amanda’s relationship has slowly healed, and Liz has begun speaking to Gabi again. Things have gone back to normal. In a twist on the first chapter of the novel where Liz watches a dramatic prom proposal with disdain, Liz now finds herself starring in one. Amanda uses her cousin’s connection with Kittredge in order to get the lead singer to serenade Liz. Everyone is recording the event when Amanda rolls in on her skateboard, holding a sign asking Liz to go to prom with her.
Chapter 37 Summary
It is the day of prom and Liz plans on wearing her old homecoming dress because Gabi was unable to finish making her a new one in time. When she wakes up, however, she finds Robbie and Granny already making preparations to help her get ready. Grandad is asleep in the middle of it all, but Granny has already begun altering Liz’s mom’s old purple velvet dress. The three of them begin helping Liz get ready; they alter her dress, help her do her makeup, and do her hair in curly waves over her shoulder. The entire family is involved in some way or the other, with Grandad taking pictures of Liz when she’s done getting ready. Amanda is extremely shy when she comes to pick Liz up for prom. She’s polite to Granny and Grandad, both of whom tease her playfully. Liz and Amanda are unable to buy tickets to prom as a couple, but they wear matching corsages. When they leave for prom, Amanda and Liz both feel lucky to be going with each other.
Chapter 38 Summary
Liz and Amanda arrive at the Arts Garden in downtown Indianapolis; it has been decorated to fit a Midnight in Paris theme. Mr. K is chaperoning the event and tells Liz some good news when he sees her. Mr. K has reached out to his advisor at Pennington and secured another audition for Liz for a position on the orchestra. Liz is delighted, and Mr. K tells her to go celebrate with her date. Amanda and Liz dance for a while before Jordan cuts in. Emme is also there, having finally returned to school. She takes Liz aside to thank her for being there for Jordan while she was away.
They chat until Rachel interrupts them, clearly drunk. She makes a homophobic comment and reveals that Emme was gone from school because she was at rehab. Emme and Rachel were friends before she left, so Liz is surprised at Rachel’s hostile behavior at her friend. Quinn arrives and tries to get Rachel to calm down; all of Rachel’s friends are disgusted with her behavior and now she knows it. Rachel begins to cry, shouting at Liz that everything that has gone wrong is her fault and that Liz isn’t supposed to be here. Mr. K has gone to fetch Mr. Wilson, who arrives and escorts Rachel out.
Chapter 39 Summary
Jordan is announced as Campbell County’s prom king and Liz as its prom queen. As Liz is crowned, Madame Simoné tells her that she’s the best queen that she’s ever crowned. Liz is overwhelmed by all the clapping and cannot quite believe that she’s won. The prom king and queen are supposed to dance together but, instead, Jordan hops off stage and places his crown on Amanda’s head. Jordan dances with Emme while Liz goes to dance with Amanda. Amanda admits that all of this feeling like a fairy tale, and Liz is unable to keep from dropping her flowers and kissing her. The novel ends with Liz’s firm declaration that they “deserve this good thing” (191).
Part 7, Chapters 35-39 Analysis
In this final section of the novel, Liz begins to understand the many different support systems to which she has access. Liz’s independent and ambitious nature is a crucial part of her character; these traits are the catalyst for all the events in the novel. Johnson is aware, however, that people need rest, no matter how strong they might be. Liz has run herself into the ground with school, rehearsal, her job, and vying for prom queen. In this section, through the characters of Granny, Mr. K, and Jordan, Johnson showcases how the people who care about Liz deliberately make space for her.
Granny has been a background presence through most of the book, but her admission that she is not only aware of how hard Liz is working, but also apologetic, showcases the amount of care she has for Liz. Liz realizes this, thinking, “All those overnight shifts. All those weekends when she couldn’t sleep. Granny was worried too. She never left me to fend for myself” (175). Granny has also been working hard so that she can support Liz when she finally needs to slow down and rest. Granny knows Liz and also knows that she deserves a space to rest; the support she offers is financial as well as emotional. Mr. K offers an altogether different type of support to Liz. Though he wants to help after Liz tells him that she didn’t get the scholarship, Liz is quick to wave it off. As an alumnus of Pennington himself, Mr. K leverages his contacts at the school so that he can get Liz another shot at an audition.
Mr. K makes space for Liz, using resources and connections that she does not have so as to support her. Jordan’s ceding of his crown to Amanda is yet another space-clearing gesture that gives Liz and her girlfriend the acknowledgement that might otherwise have not been granted them. Jordan’s refusal to dance with Liz allows for the subversion of the heteronormative gender roles that Campbell clings to so tightly. This moment gives Liz and Amanda the opportunity to dance together; they also kiss before the entire school, a direct repudiation of Mr. Wilson and Campbell County’s homophobia.
The end of the novel is a direct repudiation of all of Campbell County’s antiquated ideas of what a prom queen should be and also a display of Liz’s growth. Liz is no longer the girl who wishes that she can disappear and be rendered invisible. Echoing Amanda’s earlier words, Liz now firmly believes that she is worthy of happiness and deserving of good things.
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