Character Development; Loser

Author's Note: The purpose of this piece is to improve my Character Development score. It is written to describe what Donald Zinkoff from Loser by Jerry Spinelli evolves as a person in this story.

Donald Zinkoff starts out as a little energetic first grader that wants nothing but to make others happy. He wants to grow up fast to be a mailman like his dad and learn as much information as his brain can store. Others try to put him down, but they always end up losing themselves. Undoubtedly, this different boy is the 'Loser' of the book not only because of his ego, but also his actions.

In the start of the book, when Donald is about to go to his first day of first grade, he is running down the street to school all by himself without his mother to stop him. What this tells us, is the fact that he is independent from his first day of grade school and before. For the rest of that school year, his teacher, Miss Meeks doesn't really like him. Zinkoff doesn't care. In fact, he is prepared to spend a week in the Amazon if that is what Miss Meeks asked him to do. One more exotic essence of this boy is the fact that he has an upside-down valve in his stomach that makes him throw up at least twice a week. The farther he gets in school, the more others start to notice about him.

As he moves into the second and third grade, more and more bad things happen to him. First of all, his 'friend' Andrew moves away to a better house because he hated the old one and his father got a raise. I put quotes around friend because Donald thought of Andrew as an awesome friend, while Andrew barely noticed he was there. That didn't harm him too much because he knew Andrew would be happy where he is now. After Andrew moves, Zinkoff goes through one of the most challenging times in his life. He goes through surgery to get the valve in his stomach turned right-side-up. This means no school for him and a very important thing happens to him. He gets braver. He decides to challenge himself to go down into the cellar with no lights on. It may not seem too big a deal, but it also taught him to not be afraid and overcome his fears. An upside to moving up grades in school, is getting to know people better because you are spending more time in class and recess with them.

Finally as he moves into third grade and higher, he meets an outstanding teacher named Mr. Yalowitz. This teacher knows what it is like to be last in line, back of the classroom, and last picked in alphabetical order because he is a Y. He decides to have Donald sit in front and see what it is like to be first in the alphabet for once for a change. This gave him lots of confidence and propelled him to do better in school. Fourth and fifth grade were a lot like second grade where he did not have the greatest teachers like Miss Meeks and Mr. Yalowitz. Not only did he gain a better social life, but more knowledge and confidence.

In the end, Donald grows out of the Loser title. Andrew changed his name to Drew, and everyone is in the sixth grade and are lining up to be picked for a tackle football game on the playground. Everyone gets picked except for Zinkoff who stared down Drew until he was picked. Donald Zinkoff is definitely a dynamic character in this novel because of his actions changing and the way he changes as a person.