It was actually Auggie's father who threw away Auggie's astronaut helmet. Auggie's mother was unaware that Auggie's father did this. Auggie's father felt that Auggie was hiding behind his helmet because Auggie thought he was ugly. This helmet helped Auggie escape and not engage with the world. When Auggie wore the helmet, Auggie felt that people would focus more on his words not his face. This actually caused people to be drawn further away from Auggie. By throwing away the helmet, Auggie's father hoped Auggie would not hide behind his face but embrace the face his parents loved.
August's mother had not hidden August's astronaut helmet; August's father had thrown it away. The astronaut helmet represents August's desire to hide from the world, and it allowed August to keep away from people who would have usually stared at him.
However, when August wears his helmet, not only do people not scare at him, people usually don't interact with him. Therefore, his helmet is not just an escape for August, but it isolates August even more.
When August cannot find his helmet, August's mother looks for it frantically, but cannot find it. On August's fifth grade graduation, at the end of the book, it is August's father who reveals that he had thrown the helmet away, as he had missed seeing his son's face.
August’s mother did not hide her son's astronaut’s helmet; it was his father who threw it away. August used the astronaut’s helmet to escape to a safe place that he had control over. He wore the helmet to escape people’s stares because he attracts unwanted attention due to his disfigured facial features. In fact, he believes that he is ugly, and he suffered a great deal of discrimination from his schoolmates who did not interact with him.
Unfortunately, the helmet is counterproductive in that instead of protecting August from the endless stares, it isolates him further. After the helmet disappears, August’s mother frantically searches for it but to no avail. It is not until August’s fifth grade graduation that his father confesses to having thrown the helmet away because he hated it so much. He said he had missed seeing his son’s face that he loved so much.
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