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Boy Stirs Monster
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Boy Swallows Universe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Goodness, Masculinity, and Coming of Age
Trauma, Coping, and Healing
Family, Love, and Mentorship
Storytelling and Justice
Money, Suburbia, and Criminality
Summary
Analysis
Eli is in a meeting with Mrs. Birkbeck, the Nashville State High School guidance counselor. He’s going to remember her by the Santa Claus figure on her desk, and he’s in this meeting because six weeks ago, when Eli first started at school, a bully named Bobby Linyette teased Eli about his missing finger. In Eli’s third week, Bobby’s friends held Eli down as Bobby squirted tomato sauce in Eli’s hair. Eli had turned down August’s offer to stab Bobby on the day that Bobby burned Eli’s backpack, which was full of his plans and maps of the Boggo Road women’s prison.
When Bobby bullies Eli and draws attention to his missing finger, he’s essentially drawing attention to Eli’s loss of innocence. Eli had no choice in losing his finger, so it’s especially hurtful to have Bobby target him and prolong the pain. But Eli is also starting to grow up, since refuses August’s help in dealing with the bully. It’s also ominous that Eli has plans of the women’s prison in his backpack, as he may be fixating on trying to see Mum.
Themes
Mrs. Birkbeck says Eli’s behavior was inappropriate, and Eli agrees—he says it’s something you’d see in a prison yard. This is true. Earlier in the day, Eli stole a pillowcase and filled it with gym weights. Then, following Alex’s instructions on how to sneak up on someone from behind and knife them, Eli swung his weapon at Bobby’s kidney and stomped on his knee. He begged Bobby to stop tormenting him while holding the weighty pillowcase over the bully’s head.
Eli is, interestingly, not acting like he’s afraid of suffering any consequences for his actions. He may just feel secure that Bobby committed the bigger crime by causing Eli so much emotional pain. The fact that Eli followed Alex’s advice as he planned his attack on Bobby, though, suggests that Eli is capable of making bad decisions—he might not be as virtuous as he’d like to think.
Themes
Eli looks around Mrs. Birkbeck’s office. He hopes she takes the motivational poster down when Shelly Huffman is in here. Shelly was recently diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, and the school is fundraising to buy her family a van and outfit their house with ramps. They’ve only raised $6,000 of their $70,000 goal, or in Shelly’s words, “half a ramp.” Mrs. Birkbeck calls Eli to attention and asks why Dad never answers the phone when she calls. Eli explains that Dad doesn’t answer the phone or leave the house—unless it’s to buy more alcohol.
Eli is, again, not fully able to stay in the present, as thinking about Shelly is far more interesting to him than giving Mrs. Birkbeck his full attention. Shelly’s sarcasm about how much money the school has raised is humorous, and it presents another coping mechanism for dealing with trauma: humor. As Eli tells Mrs. Birkbeck about Dad, he implies that his living situations hasn’t improved.
Themes
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Mrs. Birkbeck asks if Dad has taken Eli to see Mum yet. Eli has been asking Dad to see Mum since his first day in Dad’s house, and Dad refuses every time. Mrs. Birkbeck suggests that perhaps Dad is trying to shield Eli and August from the pain of seeing Mum in prison, something Eli hadn’t considered. Mrs. Birkbeck asks about Eli’s finger and then asks him about his writing. Eli tells her about writing true crime stories and that he’s interested in writing about how criminals decide to be bad instead of good.
Even though Mrs. Birkbeck doesn’t seem fully on board with Dad’s parenting style, she’s trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Suggesting that he’s trying to protect the boys by not taking them to see Mum would mean that Dad is thinking about his sons’ welfare. Given Eli’s surprise at the suggestion, he doesn’t think this is what’s going on. Eli is still, however, considering what makes men good and bad.
Themes
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After a moment, Mrs. Birkbeck asks if Eli knows what trauma is and if he knows it can show up in many ways. Eli reminds himself to stick to his plan as Mrs. Birkbeck asks if Eli and August have experienced trauma. Eli nods and says he hasn’t experienced anything like Shelly has, but Mrs. Birkbeck says trauma can make people do and believe things they normally wouldn’t. She says she needs Eli’s help. She has to convince the heads of school that Eli and August belong in school. She pulls out a painting that August did in art class. It’s of him and Eli in the back of the car on the bottom of the ocean; Dad is driving. Eli dutifully points out who each figure is, but then Mrs. Birkbeck asks why everyone in the painting is sleeping.
The fact that Eli has to remind himself to “stick to his plan” as Mrs. Birkbeck asks him about trauma suggests that he knows Mrs. Birkbeck has made some connection between his plan and the trauma he’s experienced. Given that Bobby recently burned a notebook of plans and maps of the prison where Mum is, Eli may be planning to sneak in. But things get more confusing when Mrs. Birkbeck pulls out the painting of Eli’s dream. She seems to imply that the dream is a product of trauma, something that Eli has given no indication of up to this point. For now, this remains a mystery.
Themes
