This Kid Needs Help

If Jonas' birthday fell upon June 23 and I could give him two gifts tomorrow, I would treat him like the lion in The Wizard of Oz and give him courage, also I would treat him like Napoleon Dynamite and give him awesome nunchuck skills (only true Napoleon Dynamite fans will catch the reference). I am going to lay it out on the line, after completing the novel I recognized that Jonas lacks the self-confidence that makes his mother such a wonderful person. His lack of courage first presents itself when he backs down from his band members after they shoot down an idea of his for a song to play. Despite admittedly being the best in the band, "he practiced and practiced" further distancing himself talent-wise from the mediocre guys he played with (147). In spite of all this, he still found his ideas shot down by older kids who did not respect him because of a lack of self-esteem. Thus I feel courage appropriately fits as a birthday gift for poor Jonas. Secondly I would give him physical matter that could represent courage or self-defense in the nunchucks. These would not only actually protect him from physical harm, but give him the illusion that he has more power than he actually does. Reason being that Joseph Novak, mentally deranged hermit, knocked Jonas out with one punch. This is embarrassing. The author writes of how even though no one saw the event, Jonas still became very embarrassed at his own shortcomings and recollects how he has never been "seriously hurt" (255). He even goes as far as to call himself a word that more vulgarly means wimp. The pathos throughout this section exacts sympathy for Jonas from individuals who know what it is like to lack self-esteem. I firmly believe that a simple token resembling toughness would greatly help Jonas out because undoubtedly, this kid needs help.