Throughout the novel, many characters make assumptions about other characters, especially Ravi. When Ravi first meets Joe, he is thoroughly unimpressed by what he considers to be Joe’s sloppy appearance: “I can’t believe kids in America are allowed to come to school looking like him. In India, we had to wear uniforms with dress pants, a collared shirt, and a tie. Joe Sylvester has on tracksuit pants and an unironed T-shirt” (51). Of course, Joe also thinks that Ravi looks strange in his ironed shirt and slicked hair. However, both characters make assumptions about the other one solely based on their appearances, demonstrating the parallelism between Ravi and Joe. These assumptions, such as that Joe is lazy or unintelligent on Ravi’s part, are often untrue and can even be hurtful. Miss Frost cautions Ravi against making assumptions about anyone, advice Ravi eventually takes to heart and that helps him transform into a more psychologically-mature individual.

Many of the assumptions that the characters make are also due to perceived differences between the character who assumes something and the character about whom something is being assumed. For example, Ravi assumes that because Joe looks differently than he does, Joe is less intelligent.