How do you think Sam's foot shape his sense of self? How do the sensitivities of his relationship with this part of his body improve and damage his relationships with the people he loves?

How do you think Sam's foot—while it's injured and after it's been amputated—shape his sense of self? Consider his reflections on gender, sexuality, and pain, including how he constructs his avatar as Mayor Mazer. How do the sensitivities of his relationship with this part of his body improve and damage his relationships with the people he loves?

No matter what the deformity is (too fat, too many scars, too short, missing limbs), a person concentrates on that part of their whole. If you have a chipped tooth, all you notice is people with beautiful smiles. If you get a bad haircut, you only notice those with gorgeous cuts. Sam is understandably self-conscious about his major issue, especially when he is pain. Sam would think that is why he would be difficult to love.

Sam is very protective of himself and keeps secrets from his friends. For a long time, when Sadie says she loves him, he replies, "Terribly." For years, he is not able to say to her that he loves her, too. In this way, he protects himself.

Sam's self protectiveness is caused by his deformed (and later amputated) foot and the physical pain he has to endure. It becomes harder and harder for him to walk and he becomes frailer as his foot becomes worse. His deformity means that he dissociates from his body and to some extent from his emotions. By dissociating, he can protect himself from physical pain. But it has an emotional cost.

I think he feels damaged in all areas so is unable to truly open up, especially after getting finds out she was being compensated for being his friend even though her motives were pure. He doesn't truly believe she is his friend.

I think Sam reveals himself when he suggests that the main character of Both Sides should be a sick kid instead of a girl who is being bullied. “She should be disabled and in pain”. Sadie comes back with isn’t bullying more relatable? Sam counters “bullying is psychological pain. A physical malady gives our character more obstacles in the real world.” Zevin writes, Mapletown was, for Sam, the story of his pain, in the present and the past. In the end the players identified more with the characters of Mapletown than Myre Landing. And Sam’s avatar Mayor Mazsur becomes a celebrity.