Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Margaret spends most of the morning keeping to herself in her bedroom. Although tempted to pray, she has to remind herself that she isn’t talking to God anymore. She decides to leave the house and gets permission to meet Janie and go to the movies. While she and Janie are out, Margaret decides that they should go into a drugstore and buy a box of sanitary napkins, even though she and Janie still haven’t gotten their periods. Janie worries about what her mother might say but eventually agrees. They each take a box, but when it’s time to check out, they are mortified that a teenage boy is ringing them up. They make their purchases “not looking at his face and not saying anything either” (157), and Margaret is amazed at how casually people in the drugstore sell sanitary napkins. When Margaret arrives home, she takes the pads to her room and examines them, and she even tries one on and decides that she likes the feel of it. The next morning, the Simons are shocked to learn that Margaret’s grandparents aren’t staying for a week as they implied: They are “moving on to New York” (158). They say their goodbyes, and as soon as they are gone, Margaret is furious and says that her grandparents “ruined [her] vacation” (158) by forcing her to stay and then leaving her behind.

After Margaret’s maternal grandparents leave, Grandma Sylvia shows up on the Simons’ doorstep with her friend Mr. Binamin. Margaret is thrilled, and she explains that her other grandparents have left. Grandma is shocked and says that she and Mr. Binamin came all the way from Florida to meet them, and Grandma and Mr. Binamin “thought [Margaret] might need [their] support” (161). Grandma asks if the Hutchins asked about Margaret’s religion, and Margaret admits that they asked her about church. Grandma once again proclaims that Margaret is a Jewish girl, which makes Margaret angry. She tells Grandma she doesn’t believe in God, which shocks and offends Grandma. Margaret’s parents greet their unexpected guests, and Margaret excuses herself and goes to her room. Although she loves Grandma dearly, Margaret is frustrated and feels like sometimes “Grandma is almost as bad as everybody else” (162) who is pressuring her to decide her religious beliefs. Margaret wonders why being Jewish is such a big deal if Grandma loves her just as she is.

As the school year ends, Mr. Benedict announces it is almost time for the sixth-grade students to submit their individual reports. Margaret writes Mr. Benedict a letter explaining that she decided to spend the last year studying religion, but she has “not come to any conclusions about what religion [she] want[s] to be” (163). She tells him about her visits to temple with her Jewish grandmother, her experience in the confessional at the Catholic Church in Farbrook, and her trip to the Presbyterian and Methodist churches with Janie and Nancy. She admits that she has not considered Buddhism or Islam because she doesn’t know anyone of those religions. She adds that she “[has] not really enjoyed [her] religious experiments very much” (163), and the thought of having to choose her own religion is overwhelming and unfair. She tells him she will tell her children what religion they are, so they don’t have to figure things out for themselves. When the time comes to submit her work, Margaret is embarrassed and hands her letter to Mr. Benedict. She tells him she tried to do a good job but believes she failed. Margaret is filled with shame, and she runs out of the classroom and hides in the Girls’ Room. She wishes she could still talk to God, but stubbornly, she refuses.

On the last day of school, there is a party for the sixth graders in the gym. The class says goodbye to Mr. Benedict, who is touched and proud of his first group of students. Nancy, Gretchen, Janie, and Margaret talk about Junior High and how nervous they are about going to a brand-new school next year as seventh graders. Margaret goes home and starts packing for summer camp, but in the middle of packing, she hears the lawnmower running and decides to confront Moose. She calls him a liar and tells him that she “[doesn’t] believe [he] ever took Laura Danker behind the A&P” (168). Moose denies this and asks where Margaret got this idea from, and when she says the story came from Nancy, Moose warns Margaret not to believe everything she hears. Margaret goes to the bathroom and discovers that she finally got her period. Margaret is ecstatic and shares the news with her mother, who becomes emotional and runs to get a pad. Her mother tries to teach Margaret how to use the pad, but Margaret admits that she has been practicing on her own. Margaret wonders if anyone will be able to see a difference in her, and she is so relieved that she decides to pray to God once again. She thanks him for finally giving her her period, and she knows that God is there with her because “[he] wouldn’t have missed this for anything” (171).