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Part 1, Chapter 9: Sofia
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in God Help the Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Inherited Trauma
Racism and Colorism
Child Abuse and Healing
Arrested Development and Unconditional Love
Summary
Analysis
Bride takes a taxi to try and find Salvatore Ponti because she thinks her Jaguar would be too conspicuous in the neighborhood she’s visiting. She finds Salvatore Ponti’s Pawn and Repair Palace and shows the man behind the counter the invoice. When Bride asks if he’s Salvatore, he says she can call him Sally. Bride shows Sally the invoice, and he goes to find the trumpet Booker left for repair. Bride never knew that Booker played an instrument. Before she leaves, Sally says that Booker left an address for Whiskey, California.
Though Bride is heartbroken after Booker’s departure, she hadn’t known he played trumpet. Booker’s connection to his trumpet is fundamental to his understanding of himself and one of the primary methods he used to cope with the murder of his brother (another thing that Bride does not know about). Bride’s lack of knowledge about Booker highlights her difficulty in forming relationships. Though she clearly felt a spark of connection with Booker, both she and Booker were too traumatized by their childhoods to deepen that connection. When Bride decides to try and find Booker in Whiskey, then, she is taking a risk to try and overcome the fear she learned from her trauma by forging a connection based on mutual love with Booker.
Themes
