Esteemsters: Difference between revisions

Both girls, as new arrivals, are subjected to a psychological test consisting of inventing a story based on a picture of two human silhouettes. Quinn immediately creates a nice typical teenage story. Daria, on the other hand, gives sarcastic answers to the questions ("A herd of beautiful wild ponies running free across the plains") to the annoyance of [[Margaret Manson|Mrs. Manson]], the school psychologist. In history class, Daria is able to "concisely and unemotionally" sum up the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, a task given by her teacher, [[Anthony DeMartino]]. Daria's correct answer is in stark contrast to the answers of classmates [[Kevin Thompson|Kevin]] and [[Brittany Taylor|Brittany]], who say that Manifest Destiny fueled the Vietnam War, "Operation: Watergate", and/or the "Vietcong War", fueling Mr. DeMartino's wrath.

 

 

The following day, at self-esteem class presented by the English teacher [[Timothy O'Neill]], Daria is confused by the expressions used. When she asks Mr. O'Neill, he refuses to explain them. Another student sitting behind Daria, [[Jane Lane]], tells Daria that Mr. O'Neill doesn't even know their meaning and advices her to relax, telling Daria that she has already taken the class six times. After school, Daria and Jane befriend each other as they walk home and talk calmly about self-esteem class and other topics. Arriving Home, Daria is surprised her mother is there, having taken the day off to be with her daughter, and they end up going shopping, mainly for Helen's wardrobe.

The next day, prompted by O'Neill's advice during self-esteem, Daria convinces her family to go to [[Pizza Forest]], a kid's restaurant where singers, dressed as animals, try to join families in singing: Quinn is bored, and Jake and Helen are uneasy, but Daria seems to be enjoying her family's discomfort.

 

 

Some days later, as Daria is at Jane's, they agree to use Jane's memorization of the self-esteem exam questions to pass the exam three weeks early. They do so during the following class, answering O'Neill's questions with upbeat, stock answers. Mr. O'Neill is so impressed with the girls graduation three weeks ahead of schedule that he decides to announce it at a school assembly. At the assembly, while on podium, Jane fakes sudden embarrassment and runs off stage amidst laughter from students. Daria, on the other hand, gives a small speech about self-esteem, concluding with a big thanks for ''her sister Quinn'', in front of all their colleagues (taking revenge on Quinn earlier stating that she is an only child). Quinn is furious that Daria has addressed her in front of the whole school and, that evening, at home, she raves and dramatically declares she will lock herself in her room for the rest of the life, in typical teenage fashion. This decision, however, lasts only until she takes a call from another male student, [[Matthew]], which immediately lifts her spirits.