Sunny Side Up

The word “terrific” is used as a refrain throughout the text, and its meaning shifts repeatedly as the authors use this chameleon-like word to convey Sunny’s changing strategies for dealing with her circumstances. The motif therefore serves to convey The Harmful Impact of Secrets. At first, when things are still going relatively well in Sunny’s life, the word is a literal exclamation of excitement and pleasure, and Sunny and Deb proclaim a wide variety of things “terrific” as they entertain each other. Later, when Sunny learns that she will be spending August with her grandfather instead of going on the family’s planned beach vacation, the word becomes a way for her to ironically distance herself from her real feelings, and she also uses it to politely disguise her true feelings from others. For example, when Pat relates boring plans for grocery shopping and going to the post office, she repeatedly replies “terrific” (43, 44) in order to spare his feelings. Significantly, when she finally confronts him over his smoking, she distances herself from her own less-than-honest use of the word by telling Pat, “It’s NOT terrific!” (196). Toward the end of the