How does Walter feel about being recognized as a good student? Why does Walter struggle with his identity “the two voices in his head”?

After defending himself from bullies, Myers was considered a problem child, but thanks to some of his teachers, who felt that there was more to him than this behavior, his entire life changed and he went from bottom of the class to the top because they chose to think outside of the box in their dealings with him. Myers was given speech therapy, which enabled him to express himself better and avoid the frustration of feeling unable to say what he wanted to. It also minimized the bullying he experienced because it gave him more confidence, and bullies do not tend to bully their more confident classmates. Academically, they realized that he was passionate about books and linguistics and encouraged him, which ultimately allowed him to take accelerated learning classes and graduate early. The theme of the gift of a good teacher is evident in that much of what he was able to accomplish in later life can be traced all the way back to Myers' experiences with his caring and innovative elementary school teachers.

The author found great comfort and joy in reading books and cultivating his rich imagination. In fact he would even comment that the “me”—meaning the sense of self that was being most comfortable and most happy reading books and dreaming up stories—was truly the self that he he identified with rather than the “me”—the rough and tumble persona that he had crafted and adopted who seemed to enjoy playing basketball on the streets—that he had to assume most of the time. He often felt conflicted with how he should behave around his peers and actually downplayed his love for books and reading as that was seen as something effeminate and unbecoming of young men. This culture of toxic masculinity is an unfortunate facet of life that the author must endure.