Overview
Agnes chronicles the adventures of an elementary school-aged girl living in an Ohio trailer park called "The People's Court" with her kind yet weary grandmother (whom Agnes refers to as “Granma”). We are not told what happened to Agnes' parents or how she came to be in her grandmother's custody. Agnes is poor and not what one would consider a classical beauty, yet is a dreamer and schemer, whose limitless imagination and ambitions are constantly brought down to Earth by her limited resources and social standing.
Agnes is constantly confronted with the harsh realities of the life of the poor working class but still manages to find the optimism to carry on, frequently with a bit of sarcasm and wit using surprisingly sophisticated vocabulary.
A typical strip will show Agnes finding new schemes in hopes of getting rich or attaining celebrity, or just using her imagination to get through everyday terrors and frustrations. Although quite intelligent, Agnes does not do well in school; she frequently exasperates her teachers and finds herself in the principal's office. Her social interactions are generally limited to Granma and neighbor/schoolmate/confidant Trout, both of whom constantly pop the balloon of Agnes' dreams with hard facts and wisdom.
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