Tiger Eyes

Judy Blume’s young adult novel Tiger Eyes (1981) is about a young girl’s experience of coping with grief, loss, and change after the death of her father. Blume is a celebrated author of dozens of children’s and young adult novels, known for her willingness to address topics that might be considered taboo, such as a girl getting her first menstrual period in Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret; divorce in Just as Long as We’re Together; masturbation in Deenie; and more. Blume’s books are some of the most challenged, but also the most popular, for children and young adults in America.

The novel opens as fifteen-year-old Davey Wexler attends her father’s funeral, along with her mother, Gwen, and her little brother, Jason. Her father, Adam, died suddenly and violently, shot to death during a robbery of the family’s 7-11 store near their home in Atlantic City. His family is left in shock. Davey spends days lying in her bed and refusing to eat. She suffers from anxiety and possibly PTSD.

When she attempts to go back to school for her sophomore year, she faints. A visit to the doctor reveals she is having panic attacks. In light of this, Gwen decides that the family needs to get away from the environment where Adam was killed. Adam’s sister, Bitsy, and her husband, Walter, have invited the family to stay with them for a while in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Gwen agrees to visit, and the Wexler family packs up and moves to the other side of the country. On the plane, Jason gets a nosebleed from the high altitude, and Davey becomes upset, nearly having another panic attack at the sight of the blood.



The visit was intended to be temporary, but just before they are due back home in Atlantic City, Gwen learns that the 7-11 has been robbed again. She decides the old business and the old neighborhood are not safe for her family; she decides they’ll stay in Los Alamos through the end of the school year.

Davey is frustrated with her new home. Bitsy and Walter, who were never able to have children of their own, begin to treat Davey and Jason as if they were their children, not their niece and nephew. Davey resents this treatment, particularly because they prove to be overly cautious. Davey is ready to start rebelling. She also resents that Gwen lets Bitsy and Walter act as parents; Gwen has become withdrawn and passive in the wake of her husband’s death. She is depressed and begins to suffer stress headaches. She begins seeing a therapist in Los Alamos to help her cope.

Davey, meanwhile, has begun to explore the town on her own. She rides her bicycle to a canyon and hikes on a nearby trail. There, she meets a college-aged boy who goes by Wolf. He tells her she has sad but beautiful eyes. She tells him she goes by “Tiger.” Wolf helps her climb to the top of the trail. She won’t tell him why she is sad; she finds herself unable to discuss her father’s death.



Later, Davey makes a new friend, a girl named Jane. She and Jane become candy stripers at a nearby hospital, volunteering to help with sickly patients. While volunteering, Davey befriends a cancer patient named Mr. Ortiz. Though Davey grows closer to Jane, she is again unable to talk about her father. She tells Jane that he died of a heart attack rather than discuss the true circumstances of his death.

Tensions occur in Davey’s friendship with Jane when Jane gets drunk one night while they are at a party. Davey realizes that Jane has a problem with alcohol and may become an alcoholic.

At the hospital, Davey discovers that Mr. Ortiz is Wolf’s father. The knowledge brings her closer to Wolf; the two are both dealing with grief and the idea—or the reality—of losing their fathers. Mr. Ortiz dies, and Wolf decides to leave Los Alamos, as Davey and her family left Atlantic City. Wolf tells Davey he might be back someday.



Meanwhile, Gwen begins to date Ned, a friend of Walter’s. Davey is disappointed that her mother seems to be moving on so quickly, not understanding that beginning to date again and seeking companionship might be good for her mother.

Gwen invites Davey to attend counseling with her. After talking to the counselor, Davey breaks down about her father, finally able to speak about what happened. Davey has been carrying around a paper bag with her, which she reveals contains her blood-stained clothing from the night her father died; she was the one who found him, and she held him to her as he was dying.
After the session, she buries the clothing, along with a bread-knife she had been carrying for self-defense, near the canyon where she first met Wolf. Davey has finally accepted her father’s death and can begin to heal.

Gwen decides it’s time for the family to move back to Atlantic City. Walter helps her buy a car for the trip home. Back in the city, Gwen finds a new job at a hotel. Davey reflects on how much she has changed and wonders if any of the people in her old life will notice. Then she realizes some changes only happen on the inside. Perhaps only she will ever know the way the past year has changed her.



Tiger Eyes, successful among young readers, also made the American Library Association’s list of Most Frequently Challenged Books for the decade between 1990 and 2000. Blume has said that she used her father’s untimely death of a heart attack when Blume was twenty-one as inspiration for Davey’s emotions in the novel. In 2012, Blume’s son, Lawrence, adapted the book into a feature film starring Willa Holland.