Chap­ter IV opens with Miss Rose­mary bring­ing up the idea of cel­e­brat­ing Mibs’ thir­teenth birth­day, an inno­cent com­ment that quick­ly esca­lates into an uncom­fort­able con­ver­sa­tion. The atmos­phere at the table becomes tense as the family’s usu­al excite­ment for birth­day cel­e­bra­tions clash­es with an unspo­ken tra­di­tion with­in the Beau­mont fam­i­ly: thir­teenth birth­days are typ­i­cal­ly pri­vate, low-key affairs. Mibs’ broth­er, Fish, vis­i­bly tens­es at the thought of a par­ty, his dis­com­fort sug­gest­ing deep­er feel­ings about fam­i­ly expec­ta­tions and his own anx­i­eties. While Fish’s unease is clear, their youngest sis­ter, Gyp­sy, obliv­i­ous­ly reacts with inno­cent excite­ment, eager­ly antic­i­pat­ing bal­loons and cake, embody­ing the pure joy that chil­dren bring to cel­e­bra­tions. The con­trast between Fish’s dis­com­fort and Gypsy’s enthu­si­asm high­lights the vary­ing emo­tion­al respons­es with­in the fam­i­ly to the upcom­ing event.

Mibs, who doesn’t share Gypsy’s care­free atti­tude, open­ly express­es her reluc­tance about the par­ty. She con­fess­es to Miss Rose­mary that she doesn’t have any friends to invite, feel­ing iso­lat­ed and out of place. How­ev­er, Miss Rose­mary is unde­terred by Mibs’ hes­i­ta­tions and con­tin­ues to push for a cel­e­bra­tion with the cheer­ful­ness of some­one deter­mined to bring joy to oth­ers. While Mibs’ thoughts grow dark­er, the con­ver­sa­tion becomes more heat­ed, with Mibs’ old­er sis­ter, Bob­bi, mock­ing the plans. Bobbi’s scorn­ful atti­tude expos­es the rift with­in the fam­i­ly, a ten­sion that is rarely dis­cussed but always felt. Her dis­re­gard for the planned cel­e­bra­tion adds to Mibs’ grow­ing anx­i­ety, as Bobbi’s words remind her of how lit­tle she feels she belongs. Miss Rose­mary, ever the opti­mist, sug­gests that Mibs invite her class­mates to the par­ty, but Mibs, inward­ly reject­ing the idea, feels a strong desire to remain unno­ticed and avoid draw­ing atten­tion to her­self.

As the con­ver­sa­tion drifts into the back­ground, Mibs’s thoughts take her back to Rocket’s thir­teenth birth­day, a day filled with both cel­e­bra­tion and an under­ly­ing sense of fear. Rock­et, like Mibs, had once felt the weight of fam­i­ly expec­ta­tions on his shoul­ders. Mibs recalls how their Grand­ma Dol­lop had made the day spe­cial by intro­duc­ing the quirky tra­di­tion of “can­ning radio waves”—a rit­u­al where the fam­i­ly would cap­ture the sounds of songs and sto­ries trans­mit­ted through the air. Although the activ­i­ty was whim­si­cal and filled with the charm of fam­i­ly eccen­tric­i­ty, it high­light­ed the deep­er anx­i­ety Rock­et felt about his place in the fam­i­ly. Unlike his sib­lings, who had dis­played some form of spe­cial abil­i­ty, Rock­et feared being just anoth­er ordi­nary per­son, blend­ing into the back­ground. That fear cul­mi­nat­ed in a dra­mat­ic moment dur­ing a pow­er out­age when Rock­et, seem­ing­ly unin­ten­tion­al­ly, dis­cov­ered his unique tal­ent, caus­ing chaos and spec­tac­u­lar radio nois­es to fill the air, con­firm­ing his extra­or­di­nary nature and mark­ing his place with­in the fam­i­ly.

As Mibs thinks about her own upcom­ing thir­teenth birth­day, she real­izes that she doesn’t crave the same sense of spec­ta­cle or grand rev­e­la­tion that Rock­et expe­ri­enced. While Rock­et had yearned for some­thing extra­or­di­nary, Mibs sim­ply wish­es for peace and soli­tude. The idea of a birth­day par­ty, with its inevitable atten­tion, makes her feel more anx­ious than excit­ed. She prays fer­vent­ly that the par­ty will be qui­et, that no one will show up, and that she can avoid the spot­light alto­geth­er. This desire for soli­tude con­trasts sharply with the expec­ta­tions of her fam­i­ly, cre­at­ing an emo­tion­al ten­sion between the pri­vate Mibs and the exter­nal pres­sures placed on her. She longs for a birth­day with­out the pres­sures of per­form­ing or meet­ing oth­ers’ expec­ta­tions, a sim­ple moment of calm and reflec­tion. This long­ing for peace high­lights the grow­ing emo­tion­al dis­tance between Mibs and the oth­ers, as she yearns for some­thing that feels more authen­tic to her own needs.

The chap­ter deeply explores Mibs’ inter­nal strug­gle with fam­i­ly tra­di­tions and the weight of grow­ing up, espe­cial­ly in the face of soci­etal expec­ta­tions. Mibs’ desire to have a qui­et, per­son­al birth­day reflects the uni­ver­sal chal­lenge of bal­anc­ing indi­vid­ual desires with the roles and respon­si­bil­i­ties placed on us by fam­i­ly and tra­di­tion. The pres­sure to con­form to expec­ta­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly around sig­nif­i­cant mile­stones like a thir­teenth birth­day, can make it dif­fi­cult for young peo­ple to express their authen­tic selves. This ten­sion between Mibs’ desire for pri­va­cy and the family’s antic­i­pa­tion for a cel­e­bra­tion serves as a poignant reflec­tion of the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties that come with grow­ing up and step­ping into a new chap­ter of life. In many ways, this chap­ter por­trays the bit­ter­sweet nature of ado­les­cence, where the long­ing for self-dis­cov­ery often col­lides with the exter­nal pres­sures to con­form, cre­at­ing a pow­er­ful nar­ra­tive that many read­ers can relate to.