Then Again, Maybe I Won't

Plot summary

Eleven-year-old Tony Miglione lives with his hardworking extended family in a working-class neighborhood in Jersey City, New Jersey. After Tony's family experiences a major increase in wealth due to his father's successful sale of his electronics invention, the family relocates to an upper-class community in Rosemont, New York. His mother becomes absorbed with climbing the social ladder in her new, wealthier neighborhood, while his elderly grandmother becomes angry and withdrawn when she is no longer allowed to cook for the family as she loves to do. Tony's older brother, a new father who was previously a well-respected junior high school teacher, gives up teaching to make more money working for Tony's father, causing Tony to feel that his brother is "selling out".

Tony meets a seemingly polite and respectful neighbor, a boy his own age, Joel Hoober. While Joel's manners impress Mr. and Mrs. Miglione, Tony sees Joel's true colors in private. Joel secretly engages in misbehavior such as prank calls, underage drinking, and shoplifting, and encourages Tony to participate as well. Tony starts to experience inexplicable abdominal pain brought on by his anxiety over his new friend's antics. Tony also develops an infatuation with Joel's beautiful teenage sister Lisa, who routinely undresses near her uncovered bedroom window, motivating Tony to watch her from his own bedroom window. He is going through puberty and must deal with the physical changes in his body, such as wet dreams and erections, on top of the major changes in his family life.

Tony is eventually sent to therapy after Joel's behaviors have caused him to faint from anxiety. The therapy helps Tony learn new ways to cope with his problems. Joel is eventually caught stealing golf balls from a store, and Tony refuses to stand up for him when they are stopped by security. The two boys agree to end their friendship, and Joel is sent to a military academy after explaining to Tony that he acted out because his wealthy parents, unlike Tony's family, don't take the time to pay attention to their son. Tony also overcomes his infatuation with Lisa and curtails watching her window after learning of her relationship with an older boy. At the end of the book, Tony, now more at ease with himself and the changes, considers whether he should give up spying on Lisa for good, but then remarks to himself, "Then again, maybe I won't".

Major characters

Theme

While this novel is similar to aspects of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, it differs mainly in the secondary themes. While Margaret struggled with her issues of religion and being raised in an interfaith family, Tony Miglione struggles with the issues of his family's social status and to a lesser extent, American society. A similarity of both stories, aside from the physical maturity of both characters, is that Tony develops a crush on the eldest daughter of his next door neighbors, just as Margaret had feelings for her neighbor's friend. However, Tony also has to deal with the fact that she is three years older than he is, and that if such a crush developed further the age difference would be uncommon among guys he knows. Both stories also dealt with moving from an urban area to the suburbs, but the reason behind the move for Tony's family is his father's success with his invention and desire to move to a wealthier community.

Themes dealt with include the effects on Tony of losing the working-class life he had been used to in his Italian-American neighborhood in Jersey City, and being ill at ease in his new upper-class community. In addition, Tony's grandmother has been marginalized, as she loved to cook for the family in Jersey City and was told that this would be inappropriate in their new home. She confines herself to her room after the Migliones hire Maxine, a maid who takes advantage of the family's inexperience with their new lifestyle, and essentially directs the household to her taste instead of taking orders from the family.

The penultimate chapter in the book deals with the consequences of Joel's immoral actions. Tony and Joel are at a sporting goods store where the employees successfully catch Joel shoplifting golf balls and Tony refuses to aid Joel in lying. Tony anticipates that his parents will learn for themselves of Joel's true nature when they read tomorrow's newspaper and see Joel will be remanded to the juvenile facility, but is surprised when he learns the owner of the sporting goods store declines to press charges against Joel for shoplifting. Joel's father then decides to enroll Joel in a military academy, which he believes will cure Joel of his "I will do what I want, when I want" attitude and deprive him of his pampered lifestyle at the Hoober home.

Setting

The time frame of this story is evidently the late 1960s or early 1970s, as Tony's eldest brother, Vinnie, has been killed in action in the Vietnam War. Initially set in Jersey City, New Jersey, the family eventually moves to Rosemont, New York on Long Island. Other themes touched upon are how Tony's family seems to be knowingly and willingly distancing themselves from their Italian heritage as not many Italian-Americans live in Rosemont (evidence of this is shown when Tony's mother allows herself to be called "Carol" by Mrs. Hoober instead of Carmella, her true name). Another theme is how Tony's family is keeping up with the Joneses by emulating their next door neighbors, the Hoobers (although Tony's mother is clearly more concerned with social image than his father). Mr. Hoober is vice president of a pharmaceutical company and is apparently extremely well compensated, which gives his wife the chance to spend her days playing golf and socializing. The Hoobers are representative of the "high-powered American family" and seem to believe the "American way" is about money, affluent living, social status and not much else. As a result, they do not seem to give much attention to the trouble-making son Joel, who has the idea he can get away with anything because nobody is watching over him or enforcing discipline.

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