"Turmoil in a Blue and Beige Bedroom"

“Will he call? When will he call? Will that phone ever ring? And what will he say when he does call? Being a teenage girl waiting to be asked out to a party is sooooo painful…” (Gallo 72). “Turmoil in a Blue and Beige Bedroom” by Judie Angell is a short story about a day in the life of a stereotypical teenage girl. The whole story revolves around the main character, June, sitting in her bedroom waiting for John, a guy from school, to call her. She hopes that when he calls he will ask her to be his date to a big party that night. There are two main literary variables that Angell incorporates into the story to make it seem like a true day in the life of a teenager. The characters and irony play a large role in telling this short story. Without them, there would be no story at all.
Characters can be defined as a fictional person in a story and readers’ first reactions to him or her are usually based on their subjective capacity to empathize with the character’s experiences (Gillespie 925). In “Turmoil in a Blue and Beige Bedroom”, there are two types of characters: round and flat. There is only one truly round character and that would be June. One could say that she is the main character, since the whole story revolves around her. She also is the one who knows the most about the story and what is going on. The reader hears the story from her view and can hear the thoughts that are running through her head. From her perspective, the reader can see what is happening through her eyes as she learns more information from the other characters. There are also many other people in the story, but they would be considered flat characters. Throughout the story while June is waiting for John’s phone call, she receives many other calls from different people while sitting in her room. She receives calls from her mom, Susan, Liz, and Mary Ann, and all of which only provide the reader with a little more information about the advancement of the story. John also is a flat character, but he is ever present throughout the entire story. June can’t stop thinking about when he is going to call, which takes up a good amount of her thought. The flat characters may only have little roles in the story, but since there are so many of them, they add up to have an important role.
The purpose of the flat characters is essential to the story even though the reader may not realize it at first. These flat characters contribute to the situational irony that is found in the story. Situational irony is the discrepancy between the expected end results and the actual end results. In the story, June repeatedly tells her friends that she is maybe hoping that John will call her and ask her to Nancy’s party. She says that maybe so that her friends won’t think she is desperate, even though she is really wishing he will call. In fact, June is so desperate for him to call that she has to keep her conversations with her friends short so she won’t tie up the phone line. In the beginning of the story, it is almost as if she is praying that John will call her. The reader can hear her thoughts as she says that she will baby-sit Stewie for three days in a row without arguing. It is clear form the start that she really wishes that John will call her. She also declines invitations to go to the arcade with her best friends so that she won’t miss his call. While June is desperately waiting for her magic phone call, her other friends call her. They all ask if she is going to Nancy’s party. June finds out that all of her friends are going without dates to the party, even though she specifically heard Nancy say it was a couple’s party. She denies the fact that they are all going stag. In the end, John finally calls June. She is so excited that he calls, and when he asks her to the party…she tells him thanks for the offer, but she thinks it would be more fun to go as a big group! The irony is that she has spent her entire day waiting for this one call, and then when she does receive the call, she turns John down. The author purposely leads the reader to believe that June is still going to say yes to John even after she learns her friends are going alone because June tries to persuade her friends so hard to get dates. The reader doesn’t know of June thinking otherwise about the party and John until the very moment when he calls her.
The irony in “Turmoil in a Blue and Beige Bedroom” is what makes the story come to life. If June had accepted John’s invitation, the story wouldn’t have been as interesting. The characters are also a big factor in making the story more than just a story with a happy ending. The readers can feel the anticipation leading up to the phone call, and then receive the shock of having June turn him down. The characters make the story believable because their dialogue and actions fit the stereotypical images of teenagers. The irony also fits into this image because teenagers are always changing their minds and can make small things into enormous events. Angell’s knowledge of the stereotypical teen leads the reader into believing that the story is really occurring. This is what makes the story unique and exciting.