Nilaja Sun No Child Analysis

Nilaja Sun’s No Child… is a comedy play about a group of delinquent students that are required to learn and perform a play within six weeks. The characters in the play are what makes the story unique. Each character seems to bring reason to the title of the play in their own way. All of them have their own personality that makes the play enticing to read or watch being performed. The title No Child… means that no child is what they are expected to be. There is no child that can truly be predicted or known. The significance of the title, No Child…, can best be interpreted by analyzing the characters. The protagonist of the play is Ms. Sun. She is a teaching artist that goes to Malcolm X High School to teach the students a play. Ms. Sun, in all actuality, is trying to do more than just help her students learn a play. She wants the kids to “do the exact opposite of what people expect” (1370), and be able to prove those people wrong that think that they are destined to a life of crime and poverty. Many of her students do succeed and continue to surprise her. Unfortunately, Ms. Sun’s effort doesn’t rule out for

Sun says, is the “leader” (1376) of the group of students. Although he came with protestation, he was the first student to agree to the play by asking if he could be “the charming leading man that gets all the honies’ numbers” (1368). There’s some visible aspiration in him that just needs a little prodding to come out. Jerome shows compliance throughout some parts of the play, showing that he enjoys the project that they are doing and that he wants to be a better person. In the end, Jerome leaves many “omniscient” (1380) when he chooses to go nowhere in life and he could be one of the “brightest” (1380). Jerome was a child that didn’t make it. He had something going for him and gave it up. It goes to show that those that thought he would do great didn’t know him as well as they thought and thus adding to the significance of the play’s