First impressions can deceive us. There is no way to truly know one’s situation from a first look. However, human nature makes people construct assumptions off of impulse, whether true or not. This is exemplified in the story “Miss Awful,” by Arthur Cavenaugh, where the characters show the tendencies and effects of judging people without sufficient knowledge.
The protagonist of the story, Roger, is in for a surprise when his third grade class’s lenient teacher is temporarily replaced with the strict and more responsible teacher, Miss Orville, whom the children refer to as ‘Miss Awful.’ Throughout the week, she disciplines the rowdy and talkative class. The students initially think Miss Orville acts the way she does without any reason, and devise a plan to try and get rid of her. They tear up her plants, hoping to get revenge. What the students, save for Roger, do not know is that Orville was actually evicted from her apartment and her plants were the only things she could keep – and now even they are gone, ruined by unnecessary violence.
After the class rebelliously rejoices when finished with committing the deed, yelling informal slang like “ain’t,” Miss Orville berates them, telling them that the privilege of education is invaluable, that wasting it only cripples society as a whole. She reveals, or rather, clarifies her true motive for being harsh to the children who seemed to care so little.
In these two ways, the students in “Miss Awful” show that prejudice causes pain that could have been avoided, and shows that not looking into the full storyof someone ignores their most important lessons.