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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Look Both Ways, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Perspective and Assumptions
Independence, Freedom, and Identity
Joy, Resilience, and Childhood
Fear, Friendship, and Support
Bullying
Summary
Analysis
Today, Satchmo has worked out a plan that will save his life. He wishes he came up with it a long time ago, like back when he was seven years old and the rottweiler bit a chunk out of Satchmo’s leg, creating a scar that looks like a sad face. It was a freak accident, because Satchmo never misses when someone throws a ball at him—but he missed that time. Clancy threw the football and Satchmo stretched for it, but it bounced into Ms. Adams’s yard anyway. Her chained-up rottweiler, Brutus, leapt for the ball, tail wagging, and tried to play with it, but he knocked the ball just out of his reach.
Satchmo’s plan seems to be influenced by this dog bite he suffered years ago. The fact that the bite scarred in the shape of a sad face suggests that Satchmo’s life since the bite has been negatively ruled by this bad experience—he perhaps lives in fear of dogs now. When Satchmo missed the ball, it showed that he wasn’t entirely in control of his life. This is especially true since missing it led to the bite, the memory of which makes him feel powerless and vulnerable.
Themes
Clancy told Satchmo to get the ball quick, before Ms. Adams saw him. She’s an older lady who sits in her window and yells at kids to get off her lawn. She chews tobacco and rumor has it that she mixes her tobacco slime with Brutus’s food to make him mean. Ms. Adams isn’t a normal old lady. Instead of asking after Satchmo’s mother, she just nods a bit. Satchmo figures the inside of her house is like an old boxing gym, smoky and hanging with punching bags. Maybe Ms. Adams punches and kicks the bags all day. Satchmo even wonders if maybe he’s wrong and Ms. Adams is actually Brutus’s “guard lady.”
Even though Brutus is presumably the dog who bit Satchmo, Satchmo acknowledges that he might not be correct in thinking the dog is so terrible. It may be that Brutus is actually a nice dog whom Ms. Adams encouraged to be aggressive. Still, entering Brutus’s yard is a scary prospect because the fact remains that he’s a dangerous dog, at least as far as Satchmo is concerned. Ms. Adams doesn’t want people in her yard, and she has no issue snapping at kids or frightening them with her dog to get her way.
Themes
But on that day, Clancy shook his head at Satchmo—Ms. Adams wasn’t in the window. Satchmo hurried into Brutus’s yard, greeting the dog in a whisper. The ball was far enough away from Brutus that Brutus couldn’t get Satchmo, so there was nothing to be afraid of. Brutus wagged his tail in a confusing way. It was like he was saying yes, no, and that he wanted to play—but a different game. Satchmo picked up the ball and held it up to show Clancy, just as Brutus started to jump and bark. Satchmo ran—and Brutus’s chain broke. Satchmo is named after Louis Armstrong, a jazz musician whose nickname was Satchmo because he had a big mouth. Satchmo Jenkins, though, doesn’t have a big mouth. But that day, he discovered he could use it to shout for help.
Clancy implying that Ms. Adams isn’t in the window reiterates that he and Satchmo go into this believing that Brutus isn’t the real scary one here—Ms. Adams is. And to his credit, Satchmo interprets Brutus’s body language as wanting to play, something that suggests he might not be so mean after all. However, the fact that Brutus wants to play a “different game” and then goes on to bite Satchmo shows Satchmo that the real danger is the dog, not Ms. Adams. As Satchmo realizes he can advocate for himself and yell for help, he also realizes that there are other people who can help him if only he asks for it.
Themes
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Satchmo and Satchmo’s mom moved to Marlow Hill four years later, as Satchmo’s bite inspired Satchmo’s mom to go back to school to become a vet. She took a job in a vet’s office and tried to teach Satchmo how to behave around dogs. Her teaching didn’t matter, though: Satchmo is terrified of dogs. They’re dangerous. His mom always argues when people say that anything with teeth will bite. When sad commercials urging people to adopt dogs from shelters come on TV, she gets mad when Satchmo says that maybe the dogs belong in the shelter. She insists Brutus only bit because Satchmo was tense—he just wanted to play.
Though adults presumably came to Satchmo’s rescue after Brutus bit him, in the last four years he’s been at odds with his mom. She seems to not take it seriously how afraid Satchmo is of dogs—and neither of them can agree that the other has a point, and dogs can be both unpredictable (and potentially dangerous) and wonderful. Satchmo’s mom believes in giving all animals the benefit of the doubt. But because of Satchmo’s experience with Brutus, it seems like a better plan to just assume that all dogs are dangerous. If he can’t rely on his mom to take his fears seriously, this may seem like the best way to keep himself safe.
Themes
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Satchmo isn’t afraid of small dogs, just big ones. And lucky for him, there aren’t any dogs in Marlow Hill—until yesterday. Yesterday, on Nestle Street, Satchmo realized that Mr. Jerry had gotten a dog. Immediately, Satchmo was terrified. Mr. Jerry’s wife died a few months ago, and Satchmo’s mom has been urging him to get a dog. Mr. Jerry said he wasn’t ready at first, but now he clearly is. This dog is big, a mix between a husky, German Shepherd, rottweiler, and a monster. The sight of it spurred Satchmo to hatch his plan.
Marlow Hill has, until yesterday, made Satchmo feel safe and secure because there weren’t any dogs in the neighborhood. Now, though, his beloved neighborhood is dangerous and scary. The fact that Satchmo insists that the dog is part monster suggests that he might be exaggerating the animal’s size or aggressiveness. He’s terrified, and his fear may be causing him to make assumptions.
Themes
After Satchmo’s last class, he goes to his locker and sticks his head in to take a few deep breaths. Hopefully he won’t end up with a smiley-faced scar to match the frowning scar on his leg. John John calls to Satchmo and tosses him a textbook that Satchmo left in class. Satchmo pretends to be okay and thanks John John. He then tosses the book, and an invitation to Cynthia Sower’s comedy show slips out. But Satchmo isn’t interested in comedy. He puts the book in his locker, leaves school, and thinks through the plan as he walks.
What Satchmo fears is physical pain, a fear that plenty of people share. But more than that, Satchmo is afraid of not being able to relax and feel secure in his own neighborhood. John John giving Satchmo his forgotten textbook adds more depth to John John’s character. He’s a Low Cut and, as “The Low Cuts Strike Back” explained, most people think he’s a budding criminal—but he seems like a normal, compassionate kid here.
Themes
Satchmo tells himself that he’s prepared, and he won’t get bitten or eaten. If—when—the dog jumps the fence, Satchmo can’t panic. Instead, he’ll head right and climb into Mr. Jerry’s pickup truck, where he can scream for help. But if Mr. Jerry’s truck isn’t there, then Satchmo should run right to the Carters’ house. They supposedly have a pool in the back (Satchmo has heard moms gossiping about the pool), and Satchmo should dive in. If the dog follows, it probably won’t jump in the pool—but if it does, Satchmo should jump out instantly. Dogs can’t be vicious and paddle at the same time.
Satchmo’s plan is absurd. He’s thought of everything that might go wrong, and he’s assuming that everything will go wrong. But the absurdity isn’t necessarily humorous in this story. Rather, it highlights just how terrified Satchmo is, as this situation is deadly serious to him. It might be funny to think of a dog trying to be vicious and doggy paddle at the same time, but it shows that Satchmo is far too afraid to realize that he’s being ridiculous.
Themes
After jumping out of the pool, Satchmo should have a head start on the dog. Next, he’ll jump the fence designed to keep kids out of the pool (assuming the pool, and the fence, actually exist; he’s never seen them). He’ll need a running start to get over, since he’ll be wet and heavy. If he can’t get over, he must quickly strip to his underwear. His life matters more than his modesty.
Satchmo’s plan also highlights how tuned in he is to the gossip in the neighborhood. Where gossip destroyed Ty and Bryson in “Call of Duty,” adult gossip is going to be what saves Satchmo—assuming, of course, that the gossip is right and the pool exists. And again, the thought of Satchmo stripping to escape the dog is so absurd as to be humorous. But he doesn’t see the humor, which shows just how terrified he is.
Themes
At this point, the dog should be too tired to jump the fence. But if the dog is somehow waiting for Satchmo when he gets back to the street, Satchmo might die. Satchmo corrects himself: he’ll jump on top of the old car in front of Sadani’s house, since Sadani only buys broken-down cars after his car was stolen a few years ago. He won’t mind Satchmo climbing on the hood. If the dog follows Satchmo onto the hood, Satchmo will climb on the roof, and the dog should slide off. While the dog is busy slipping, Satchmo will leap off the car and confirm that the doors are unlocked (Sadani never locks his car doors, since his cars are impossible to start and are therefore impossible to steal).
That Satchmo briefly thinks that he’ll just die illustrates how high the stakes are in his mind. He genuinely believes that if his plan doesn’t work, he might die—a terrifying thought. But again, Satchmo knows his neighborhood inside and out, so he’s able to come up with this far-fetched plan to use his neighbors’ quirks to his advantage. It’s also possible that Chucky, Simeon’s brother, stole Sadani’s car, creating another connection between stories that suggests the characters in each story have more in common with one another than they might realize.
Themes
Satchmo can get in the car and he’ll be safe, since the car doesn’t have electric windows. He can crack a window and scream for help. If the door is locked, Satchmo will throw saved sausage patties at the dog. The dog will obviously go for the sausage, but if it doesn’t, Satchmo will just have to zig and zag and run. It’ll be just like when he and Clancy pretended they were playing in the Super Bowl. Where is Clancy? Is he playing football right now, and is he helping his teammates or running away? Why didn’t Clancy chase Brutus? If Clancy had tackled Brutus, Satchmo would’ve barked and growled at the dog to show him what it feels like.
Finally, the story shows that Satchmo’s fear of dogs is magnified by his feeling that Clancy abandoned him. Brutus’s bite was traumatic, but it was made more traumatic because Clancy didn’t try to help Satchmo—he just disappeared from the narrative after throwing the ball into Ms. Adams’s yard. A friend’s support, Satchmo acknowledges, would’ve made him feel safe and secure enough to try to teach Brutus to be more compassionate. He talks about Brutus’s growling and barking as though Brutus is bullying others, and thinking about it in this way suggests that if Brutus only knew how much damage he was causing, he’d stop.
Themes
Satchmo reminds himself that that’s not important. He must make sure he’s ready to run right and then left to throw the dog off. Dogs aren’t as nimble since they have four feet, right? In any case, when Satchmo gets to his house, he’ll run to the side door that he left unlocked, even though he knows Satchmo’s mom will kill him if she finds out. But if the side door is locked, Satchmo will just have to pray for a miracle, like a school bus falling from the sky.
Thinking about Clancy, Satchmo decides, is just making things worse—he doesn’t need to relive his feelings of abandonment as he evades a dog he’s certain will try to murder him. And again, it illuminates just how real Satchmo’s fear is when he’s willing to give his mom a reason to get upset with him just to keep himself safe. He feels like she’s abandoning him right now, so he has to take matters into his own hands.
Themes
Satchmo is ready to carry out his plan as he approaches Mr. Jerry’s house on the far side of the street. He creeps past Mr. Jerry’s door and the side yard, feeling like his body is turning into rawhide, chew toys, and dog treats. Then, Satchmo hears what sounds at first like a bark—but it’s Mr. Jerry yelling for Satchmo, not the dog barking. Kneeling next to the dog, which is happily licking his cheek, Mr. Jerry calls Satchmo over to meet his new friend. Mr. Jerry’s face is happy, like he’s just made a touchdown.
Finally, Satchmo is ready to run—and in his mind, he’s nothing but a big dog treat for the taking. But Satchmo also trusts Mr. Jerry, so he’s willing to take a moment to look at the scene in front of him and try to think about it differently. Suddenly, the once-frightening dog doesn’t look so terrible. It looks happy, and Mr. Jerry calling the dog his friend suggests that the dog isn’t a fearsome beast at all. The fact that Satchmo trusts Mr. Jerry offers hope that he’ll be willing to trust his neighbor and meet the dog—and perhaps begin to overcome his fear.
Themes
