The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Dwight learns origami, the art of folding paper into objects like birds or flowers, and uses it to create Origami Yoda, a hand puppet that dispenses wisdom to students. Dwight voices the puppet badly, but his advice is excellent, and Origami Yoda’s reputation grows quickly. Though it’s the titular character, and though Dwight encourages other kids to think of it as a real, sentient being connected to the Force from Star Wars, it is in fact simply a small artwork made of folded paper.

Dwight chooses Yoda because Star Wars’ Yoda is known for his wise, Zen-like sayings. This gives Dwight’s advice a stamp of authority. Part of the puppet’s appeal is that it says perceptive things that nobody expects from Dwight, whom everyone assumes is a “dunce.”

Origami Yoda is Dwight’s way of emerging from his own shyness to interact with other kids and participate in their lives. He destroys the puppet when he realizes that it’s not enough to win him the friends he craves. That realization ironically frees him to use another Origami Yoda puppet, but this time as a charming adjunct that expresses his originality in useful ways. Origami Yoda helps Dwight to help others overcome problems. In the process, he wins the friends he yearns for.

Cassie accidentally breaks Mr. Snider’s bust of Shakespeare. She hides the broken pieces, and Dwight says: “To be in the backpack or not to be in the backpack, that is the question” (50). It’s a play on perhaps the most famous lines in Shakespeare’s plays: “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare, William. “Speech: ’To be, or not to be, that is the question.’” Poetryfoundation.org).

Hamlet’s meditation includes nearly a dozen other famous lines, including: “the thousand natural shocks / That Flesh is heir to,” “‘Tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wished,” “To die, to sleep, / To sleep, perchance to Dream,” “what dreams may come, / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause,” “death, / The undiscovered country,” and “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all” (Shakespeare, William. “Speech: ’To be, or not to be, that is the question.’” Poetryfoundation.org).

Hamlet kills his enemies and dies in the process; for him, “The rest is silence” (“Speech”). Cassie, though, must defend herself against “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (“Speech”) with Origami Yoda’s advice, which challenges her to take positive steps by building a new Shakespeare sculpture. She learns to assert herself creatively, even when she’s in trouble, and that innovation will help her to upstage the problems in her life.