Imagine liking a boy or girl in your school, depending on which gender you are, but you are scared to talk to them. What would others think of you?
‘Seventh Grade’ is about a Mexican boy called Victor at a school in Fresno, who has just started 7th grade. He has a crush on a girl named Teresa, but is afraid to talk to her. He tries to show off to her in all the classes that they are in together, but ends up embarrassing himself in each and every one of them. In French class, he wants to show off to Teresa by lying that he knew French, but instead the teacher wanted him to say something, so he was left with words in his stomach, since he didn’t actually know any French. In the end, Teresa actually talks to him and says he did a great job.
I would personally think that Victor does not have the best personality. First of all, he doesn’t try to get things he wants. If he wants Teresa to know that he exists, he should talk to her. Instead, he doesn’t talk to her unless she talks to him, and doesn’t even know what to say. Also, he wants to bluff about knowing French, but lying won’t one anywhere. He lies that he knows French, but the teacher wants him to say some French, his plan to impress Teresa backfires. Another bad trait about him is that he does not have self-confidence. Usually the people who succeed belive in themselves. Victor doesn’t belive in himself and thus ends up not talking to Teresa at all, other than “That’s me” when Teresa said hi, and some more lying after class, in which he still doesn’t tell the truth when Teresa believes he actually knew some French. He says that he read some in books and heard some in movies, though the reader can easily recognize that he has no idea how to speak French at all. Basically, the only reason he got Teresa’s attention towards him was luck.
To recapitulate, Victor’s character traits won’t get him anywhere, and he should probably change his habits or Teresa may realize that he isn’t what she thought he would be. And even if a reader might’ve thought that he was helpful by helping Teresa do her French homework, that would mean that Teresa wouldn’t be learning much, and he is only doing that because he has a crush on her.