So with Chet, the bully in Hello, Universe, it’s probably the most discussed character when people talk about the book with me, because I wanted to depict kind of what he’s about. That was a struggle because I didn’t want it to be overly sympathetic to Chet, because he’s not a nice person.
But I also wanted to show where it comes from. And so I thought well, where would a kid like Chet, you know, people pick up these habits from all different places, and in his case it’s his father. And I wanted to show something that felt honest and subtle, so in the case with Chet his father is a bully but not necessarily in the sense that we typically think of the bully as a push and shoving somebody into lockers and this kind of thing.
He makes passing comments about others in the guise of trying to be funny or feelings of superiority being judgmental and it’s these kinds of overt methods of putting people down and judging others that plants the seed for Chet that he and/or his father are somehow better than. But at the same rate he is seeking out his father’s approval because his father is so judgmental and difficult to please or impress.
Chet struggles with his own conflicts, as everyone does, trying to get that approval, but also exercising his, you know, perceived power over people that he thinks aren’t as good as he is.
I hear from kids a lot who are being bullied, which is always sad. And I also hear ironically I will hear from grownups and they’ll tell me that oh, we don’t have bullying in our school. And lo and behold after the presentation kids will come up and they’ll say they’re being bullied. And so I hear from kids from all walks of life for all different reasons who connect with the books in all different ways, including by the way kids who do not even like the book.