Ina Weed
X: A Fabulous Child’s Story

1. Give a short summary? This story is about an X that is an Xperiment in society and is given all these tests that are usually a regular day in a child, but is always being judged on its gender.
2. Who is the Protagonist? X is the protagonist in this story.
3. Who is the Antagonist? The Other Children’s Parents are the Antagonist.
4. What is the setting? The laboratory where X was first thought of by the scientists, then, in the home of the Jones, and finally the school where X attended.
5. Who are the characters in the story?(All of them) There is X, the Joneses, the scientist, the Other Children, The Other Children’s Parents, The Principal, the psychiatrist of the school, The grandparents named Milton and Agatha, the thousand of volunteers wanting to adopt X, the relatives of the Joneses, the store clerk, the little girl Tracy and her mother,
6. What are the major complications? When the other children started to act out of the ordinary, such as when Jim was pushing around the stroller and Susie didn’t want to wear pink dresses anymore. The little girl Peggy started to do some of her brother’s activities and Joe was doing his sisters hobbies.
7. What are some minor complications? When the other children at school had a hard time trying to figure out what X was and how to exactly interact with X.
8. What is the climatic Point? Where the parent’s of the other children had made a problem with X and the way it was interacting at school and thinking X was a bad influence for their children.
9. What is the resolution? The school psychiatrist was brought into this to try and resolve what everyone wanted to know about X. There were tests that the psychiatrist had to do on X and so the results were that X was fine just the way it was. There was no identity problem and that judgment was the biggest problem in this story.
10. What was the conflict? The conflict was about X and the society of being recognized through gender.
11. What is the theme of the story? The theme is judgment of gender shouldn’t be placed on what a certain gender is allowed to do or accomplish, but what actually what they know they are good at. Boys could do girl stuff and girls are allowed to do boy stuff, like in sports, cooking, hairstyles that are short or long, and the list could go on and on.

,

Geoff Christensen

“X: A Fabulous Child’s Story” Response

 

	Give a short summary: This story is about a baby named X and this child was taught to participate in all sorts of activities not just boy stuff like sports, or girl stuff like playing house and with dolls. The other children didn’t agree with this whole concept.
	Who is the Protagonist? Baby X is the protagonist.
	Who is the Antagonist? The Other Children’s Parents.
	What is the setting? In a laboratory where the scientist first thought of baby X, then in the home of X’s parents the Joneses, and finally the school where X attended.
	Who are the characters in the story? (all of them) Baby X, the scientist, thousands of volunteers to adopt X, the Joneses, clerk at a shopping place, a girl named Tracy and mother who bonked X on the head in the sandbox, X’s classmates, Jim the football nut, Susie, twins Peggy and Joe, the parents of X’s classmates, the principal, and finally the psychiatrist.
	What are major complications? When Jim started to push around a stroller on the football field in his uniform while his helmet was in the carriage singing “Rock-a-bye-Baby” to his helmet. Susie refused to wear pink dresses and wanted to wear red overall just like X. Peggy and Joe stared to share everything; Peggy used Joe’s hockey skates and half of his newspaper route. Joe used Peggy’s needlepoint kit and two of her three baby-sitting jobs. ,
	What are some minor complications? When the kids did not want to play with X. When both the girls and boys laughed at X. Also, when the kids at school made faces at it and did not talk to it. ,8.) What is the climatic point? The point was when the parents of the kids at school would not let their children play are talk to X. Even though X did not have any body to play with; it still did not change the activities it was doing in order to be able to play and have friends again.
	What is the resolution? The psychiatrist told everybody there was absolutely nothing mixed up with X, but rather there were a lot of things mixed up with the parents of the kids for not letting their children play with X. The psychiatrist told everyone that X was happy with participating in both girl and boy related activities, and the parents should not judge X or their own children as well.
	What was the conflict? The conflict was X vs. Society and the rules society has on boy and girl activities.
	What is the theme of the story? The theme of this story is it does not matter whether a child plays with dolls or plays sports. Boys and girls can do either one or both of them. Do not make your child just do boy stuff or just girl stuff, but open their minds to every thing out there.

Rob Borden

The story of X dealt with the predetermined actions specified by gender. The story line plotted the experimental up-bringing of a child that wasn’t gender specific and the interaction with traditionally gendered people. The protagonist was the experimental child named X. As an experiment the child was raised openly to think, play and react as a person with no gender. Society was the antagonist which took the specific face of the parent association at X’s school. Judging by references to society and robots, this story took place in a society much like ours. Minor complications with children in the sand box and children at school precluded the major conflict which was generated by the parents. The parents, in the major conflict, insisted that a complete physical/mental testing be done on X. The climatic point was when the testing psychiatrist was about to tell everyone the test results. When he told everyone that X was the most normal child he had ever examined, you could tell the climax had just transpired. After the climax the children and parents embraced X and even adopted his open minded ways. As I briefed touched on earlier, this conflict was one within society. To keep it brief, the moral of this story is – live life as a human and not as a boy or girl.

Timothy Quaschnick
Ernes Isakagic
Phyllis Hanes

Response

 

	First, give a short summary or the story line:  A group of scientists decided to have an experiment with a child, whom they named X. This experiment, was to see if they could raise a child without anyone knowing if it was a boy or a girl. The story is, for the most part, in the school years of the child X. The child has many prejudices to overcome to be accepted with the children. The other children at school made fun of X at first, yet they became very good friends with her later. The parents of the other children were against the idea of not knowing what X was, so they scheduled a test to find out. The test did not give them the answer they wanted, but they accepted the way X was anyway.
	Next, delve into the plot line -- these are the questions you must address when looking at plot in fiction:
	Who is the protagonist? The protagonist of the story would be X itself.
	Who is the antagonist? & I believe that the antagonist is the Parents Association, or the parents themselves.
	What is the setting (time & space)?     The school years of X at school.
	Who are the characters in the story--all of them? The Characters are X, the Joneses, the Scientists, Susie, Joe, Jim, Peggy, the Children in school, Parents, Teachers, Principal, and Psychiatrist.  The lesser characters would be Grandparents Milton and Agatha, the families Aunts and Uncles, cousins, neighbors, strangers, and Tracy and her Mom from the sandbox. What are the major complications (events that foreshadow
	the climatic point): The major complications that I noticed are when Susie started wearing the same overalls as X, Jim pushing baby carriage on football field, Peggy and Joe trading boy and girl things and chores such as hockey skates and needle point, and mowing and vacuuming.
	What are some minor complications--moments that foreshadow the climatic point? X is better at most of the girls and the boys’ activities such as races and cooking.
	What is the climatic point? The climatic point is when X takes the test to find out what it is.
	What is the resolution? The resolution is when all find out that X is happy and not confused at all what it is and when it is important they will know what it is.
	Of the six conflicts, what is the major conflict portrayed -- a hint the climatic point is always caused by this conflict -- I believe that the major conflict portrayed in this story is the acceptance of X no matter what it is and whatever X does.
	Finally, because this is the point after all, what is the moral or theme of the story? The point of this story is that you should accept all people no matter what they are and especially what sex they are.

Mailee Wilson and Melanie Grasseth

	Story Line: “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story,” by Lois Gould, is about an experiment dealing with the conditioning of a child beginning from the day of its birth. Scientists found two parents who were willing to raise a child without revealing its sex. They agreed to not treat the child as either a girl or a boy. “X” is the name of the child, whose growth and development as a unique individual is the main focus of the experiment.
	The protagonist is X because all the scientists, students, teachers, and its parents want the child to succeed.
	The antagonists are the parents of the other students. They do not like the “odd” behaviors their children practice after befriending X. They blame the changes on it, and want X to either go away or be revealed.  -- Jan responds: I'm not sure I agree...it seems to me that the antagonist would be Big Brother, but what do the rest of you think?
	The setting of the story seems to be in the present day American society. X grows up in the typical suburban neighborhood and attends a public school.
	All the characters in the story: Scientists, Mr. and Mrs. Joneses, X, Relatives, Neighbors, Strangers, Store Clerk, Teachers, Other Children: Jim, Joe, Susie, and Peggy; Parents’ Association , Principal, Psychiatrist, Y .
	The minor complications of the story were what to buy for X in clothing and toys, the other children at school, their curiosity about X, the fact that at first they didn’t want to play with X, and toward the end of the story all the other children were forbidden to play with X.
	The climatic point of this story was when X was in the room with the psychologist taking the test and X’s parents, all the teachers, the principle, the other students and their parents were waiting for the test results.
	The resolution is when the psychologist came out with X and said that it was not a misfit and was not confused about itself. X was a perfect person and they all would find out what gender X was when it got older.
	Society is the major conflict portrayed. The expectations on how a girl or boy behaves affect X. The people want it to act as a boy or girl, not both.
	The moral of this story is that we should try and get out of our gender box. Just because you are a girl, doesn’t mean you need to only play with dolls. Girls and boys can be good at the same things. All children should be given the chance to play with or do the activities that they choose. In our society, gender is the determining factor of how people should behave. However, without gender, there are no assigned codes an individual has to follow, which thereby accounts for a truer development of one’s identity.

Amanda Rodriguez
Jennifer Branson

X, An Understanding

Summary

Jan responds: I think we have to agree that X is the protagonist, as X is the one confronted with the dilemma
Jan responds: Again, the Antagonist would be the larger issue, the conformity forced by Big Brother, as everyone is a victimized; thus, in turn, victimizes those within their spheres.
Setting: Modern day in an elementary school
Characters and their conflicts: X- Conflict with society / wanting X to say whether it is a boy or a girl

The Joneses- Conflict with others/the parent’s of the children at X’s school Parents of the children at school- Conflict with society and the “norms” also conflict with others such as X and its parents.
Scientists- Conflict with society. Wants to bring a child up without gender influencing how the child is raised.
The other Children- Conflict with others, their parents. They also have a conflict with themselves. Girls want to play sports and boys want to play with dolls.
Principal- Conflict with others. The parents of the children in schoolPsychiatrist- Conflict with others. He has to give X an evaluation due to the parents complaints.
Joneses friends & relatives- Conflict with others. Show disgust at being told that X is neither boy or girl, but an “X.”
People that approach X- Conflict with others. Show disgust at being told that X is neither boy or girl, but an “X.”
Major complications: X’s gender is kept a secret, X starts school, the parents are furious that X is influencing their children so much, X has to take a psychological exam.
Minor complications: X creates friends, X acts like both a boy and a girl Climatic point: when the psychiatrist says that X is the least scrambled child they know and the kids are happy while the parents are dumbfounded Resolution: X is a normal kid
Conflict: Conflict with society
Moral: A person is trapped within the traditional ways of being brought up. When those ways are not present, then the person is able to fully develop their own sense of being and is able to do anything.

Tucker Santori

Who is the protagonist?

Of the six conflicts, what is the major conflict portrayed?

1.This story is about an experiment called “Baby X.” The baby X experiment was to raise X without disclosing its gender to anyone. Baby X was raised with boys and girls clothes and toys and was played with in both a girl and boy manner. Neither sex was given a preference. People thought it was weird to be raised neutral, without knowing the gender, so they treated X and its parents differently. When X started school none of the children wanted to play with X; until they noticed how much fun X had playing with all kinds of toys and different games. Then all of the children wanted to be like X which made their parents upset. The parents decided they wanted X to see a Psychiatrist to determine if something was wrong with X, and if there was they wanted X to be expelled. The Dr. Found nothing wrong with X and the Joneses and other children were happy.

2.The protagonist in the story is Baby X.

3.The antagonist in the story is

the parents of the other children. (see Jan's response to this)

4.The setting of the story seems to be futuristic, and takes place in a lab, at the Joneses house, and at school.

5.The characters of the story are the Scientist, Baby X, the Joneses, friends and family of the Joneses, the store clerk, the children at school ( Susie, Jim, Joe, & Peggy), and their parents.

6.Things become complicated when the other children started acting like X. The other children started participating in situations dealing with both roles instead of gender specific. After the parents realized their children were not acting how they would normally act, X became a big problem.

7.The minor complications are baby X being raised without gender preference, the sandbox with other parents, the 1st day of school, and the children disliking X until they noticed all the fun it had winning/losing the contest.

8.The major climatic point is when the parents of the other children became upset because their children were behaving like X, they forbid them from playing with X but they still acted like X.

So they decided to hold a parents meeting do discuss X and what to do with it.

9.In the end, X had to go through a psychiatric analysis. After being analyzed for hours, the psychiatrist came to a conclusion that X does not have an identity problem. The psychiatrist said that there is nothing wrong with X. Because of the psychiatric analysis coming out positive, he was allowed to stay in school. The parents decided to deal with fact that there is nothing wrong with X. They left X alone after that.

10.The major conflict portrayed is that people feel boys should act like boys and girls should act like girls.

11.The moral of the story is that it doesn’t matter what gender you are you should do the things you enjoy. No one should be limited on the tasks or goals they want to accomplish whether the goal is specified for boys or girls. It should not matter what gender the goal belongs to.

Melanie Grasseth (individual response)

X: A Fabulous Child’s Story

"X: A FABULOUS CHILD’S STORY" is about a scientific experiment. Scientists wanted to see the effects that a child would have if the world didn’t know what its gender was. A set of parents was picked out of thousands of applicants. They were then given a manual that would answer all of their questions about problems that would come up. The most problems happened after X stared school. X had a hard time at first making friends but in the end every one was cheering for him. The parents of the other children in the school wanted X to tested by a psychologist because they thought X was abnormal and confused about what it was. The doctor came out crying and said that there was nothing wrong with X and that when X gets older the mystery will revile itself.

1- The protagonist is a baby named X.

2- The antagonist is the parents of the other children at school -- see Jan's response

3- The setting was never specifically told, said to be only once upon a time

4- There were many characters in this story. The mane character was baby X and it’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, all the scientists, the school teachers and principle, a set of grandparents named Milton and Agatha, friends and relatives of the Joneses, a stranger in the park, a girl and her mother in the sandbox, the other children in school and their parents, the girl that beat X in the baking contest, the boy that X beat in the race, Susie and her parents, Jim and his parents, and finally the twins, Joe and Peggy and their parents.

5- The major complication that X and its parents had to deal with was that they couldn’t tell any one what gender X was. They had to dress him and raise X in a manner that would not pull him in ether direction, boy or girl.

6- Some of the minor complications in the story were, what to buy for X in clothing and toys, the other children at school and their curiosity about X, the fact that at first they didn’t want to play with X, and toward the end of the story all the other children were forbidden to play with X.

7- The climatic point of this story was when X was in the room with the psychologist taking the test and X’s parents, all the teachers, the principle, the other students and their parents were weighting for the test results.

8- The resolution came when the psychologist came out with X and said that X was not a misfit and was not confused about its self. X was a perfect person and that they all would find out what gender X was when X got older and it becomes obvious.

9- The conflict best described in this story would be a conflict with society, all of the other parents wanted X to be forced to act like either a boy or a girl.

10- I believe the moral of this story is that we should try and get out of our gender box. Just because you are a girl, doesn’t mean you need to only play with dolls. Girls and boys can be good at the same things. All children should be given the chance to play with or do the activities that they choose.

Mailee Wilson (individual response)

	Story Line: “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story,” by Lois Gould, is about an experiment dealing with the conditioning of a child beginning from the day of its birth. Scientists found two parents who were willing to raise a child without revealing its sex. They agreed to not treat the child as either a girl or a boy. “X” is the name of the child, whose growth and development as a unique individual is the main focus of the experiment.
	The protagonist is X because all the scientists, students, teachers, and its parents want the child to succeed.
	The antagonists are the parents of the other students. They do not like the “odd” behaviors their children practice after befriending X. They blame the changes on it, and want X to either go away or be revealed.
	The setting of the story seems to be in the present day American society. X grows up in the typical suburban neighborhood and attends a public school.
	All the characters in the story: Scientists, Mr. and Mrs. Joneses, X, Relatives, Neighbors, Strangers, Store Clerk ,Teachers, Other Children: Jim, Joe, Susie, and Peggy, Parents’ Association, Principal, Psychiatrist, Y
	The Minor Complications: People are always curious as to what X really is. They want to know if it is a boy or a girl. However, X’s parents treat it as neither, which accounts for the child’s innocence when people ask if it is a boy or girl. When asked, X always responds with something along the lines of, “I’m an X.”
	Climatic Point: The parents of the Other Children dislike X because he affects the behavior of their kids. They complain to the principal and the Parents’ Association agrees to determine what X really by forcing X to be tested by a psychiatrist.
	Resolution: The test is unable to determine X’s sex because its responses are neutral. The psychiatrist is baffled, but he realizes that X’s identity is as “normal” as normal can get, and possibly even more so. The doctor advises that X stays as it is, and that time would reveal its sex, but that would not matter so much because X would have an already solid concept of who it is.
	Major Conflict: Society is the major conflict portrayed. The expectations on how a girl or boy behaves affect X. The people want it to act as a boy or girl, not both.
	Moral/ Theme of the Story: Gender is the determining factor of how people should behave. However, without gender, there are no assigned codes an individual has to follow, which thereby accounts for a truer development of one’s identity.

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