Thesis: Q's most defining characterization is that he constantly misunderstands (and misunderstood) by other characters.
Q jumps over the obvious. He wrongfully mistakes what people say to him. A girl, Fern- Flower and Q-the dinosaur, were with each other near a tree. They were talking and Fern - Flower tells Q a dream she recently had. The dream was about a dinosaur attacking her. She was not scared, and actually liked him, (101). Q's interpretation of her dream is very abstract, he says:
" Fern- Flower desired nothing more than to be assaulted. This was a moment for me to embrace her. But the dinosaur they image was too different from the dinosaur I was, and this made me more different and timid," (101).
This demonstrates, Q's assumptions towards Fern- Flower's dream. He believes that she willingly wants to get assaulted. He knows that he is not that type of person, so he feels more awkward and submissive. Even though Fern- Flower's intentions was not to create insecureness to him. He supposedly thinks she is. Q's wrong reactions repetitively make him self misunderstand others. His wrong thoughts create more clutter and weakness. As a result, this type of misconception sets out continuous confusion.
Q is in an everlasting mind-set of interpreting wrong ideas. In the middle of the novel, Fern- Flower tells Q another dream she had. It was in the same subject as the previous dream: The Dinosaur. Her dream was about a dinosaur that passed her house. She made her self look nice, looked outside the window to attract the dinosaur, but he did not look back- not even a glance, (104). In the dream, she felt sad and invisible. Q's thoughts about her dream is:
" This dream furnished me with a new key to the understanding of Fern- Flower's attitude towards me: the young creature had mistaken my shyness for disdainful pride. Now, when I recall it, I realize that all I had to do was maintain that attitude a little longer, make a show of haughty detachment, and I would have won her completely," (104).
This signifies that Q's belief upon her dream was that, he put forth everything he had. He felt that want she was saying is: he has done wrong. He was so forceful; he should have been invisible and assumes he has not been looking. Later, he should of came and they would have been together. When he says this, he is down shifting. He is decreasing he chance. Q feels that he has lost her. He messed up. This emphasis that because the first dream was about him, he immediately thinks the dream is too. He does not think he dreams are not random dreams that she randomly wanted to tell him. She knew that she wanted to tell him because wrongful actions his done- obviously not. This delusion develops an emotional break down even-though the anxiety my not be real. He concludes they are. As a result, Q’s lost anticipations establish regretful feelings and turns into anger and direct outcomes.
Q's acrimony becomes out of control. His misunderstandings create a division between respect and rudeness. He starts to become blunt and tell Fern- Flower tells one more dream that creates extreme anger towards Q, and he does not hold it in. Fern- Flower's dream was about a dinosaur who funny and had all green. The dinosaur was getting teased then, she stepped fore ward and protected him. She took him away a fixed him up. She noticed he was ridiculous and was the saddest of all creatures, (107). This shows that because he thought the other two-dream s was about him, the last one must be too. After all the words she used to describe the scene, he states:
"Why do you bore me with these dreams of yours? They get more childish every time! You can't dream anything but sentimental nonsense!"(107).
This exposes that he saw how negative each dream was and made a conclusion that they were all about him. When he says " Why do you bore me with these dreams of yours?” I do not believe he literally meant they were boring, but say this would make her feel bad. Q's anger made him turn blunt because of all the errors and wrong reactions he had towards Fern- Flower's dream. He did not feel any regret after his done so, because she did not have that feeling, so he did not either. As a result, misconception performs confusion towards the other characters, in this case, Fern- Flower.