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Part 2, Chapter 1
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
Sofia’s dad has called to tell her that her mother died. Sofia thinks she should feel sad, but she doesn’t. She buys a plane ticket to go to the funeral, assuming her parole officer will let her go. She recalls beating up Bride and thinks that beating her up gave her more of a feeling of release than being let out of prison. The morning after she beat up Bride, Sofia found splotches of blood on the pavement outside. She wonders now why Bride didn’t call the police afterward.
In this section, the novel juxtaposes Bride’s desires in the present against Sofia’s. While Bride visits Sofia to try to mend their relationship, Sofia isn’t looking to accept Bride but to punish her, showing the novel’s nuanced and complicated view on forgiveness and acceptance. The novel remains ambiguous about why exactly Bride wanted to help Sofia or try to have a relationship with her. In this instance, though, the novel doesn’t suggest that acceptance and forgiveness are a panacea for all of life’s issues, as Sofia seems to feel genuinely better after reacting to Bride’s entreaties with violence. Sofia’s recourse to violence, though, suggests that she has not healed both from being sent to prison and the hardships she experienced while in prison.
Themes
