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Chapter 17. One Year Before the Before
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Monday’s Not Coming, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Child Abuse
Family, Community, and Responsibility
Growing Up, Independence, and Friendship
Secrecy and Shame
Poverty, Social Support, and Desperation
Memory, Repression, and Trauma
Summary
Analysis
After Thanksgiving, Mr. Hill requests a special meeting with Ma and Daddy. Claudia’s grades never showed up—either God was listening or the school held them back for terrifying reasons. Claudia waits outside Mr. Hill’s office and jumps when he walks by. She notices that he has a big folder with her name on it. If Monday were here, she could help. Claudia pesters Mr. Hill about contacting Monday, but Ma and Daddy arrive, cutting off the conversation.
Claudia continues to fixate on what would be better if Monday were still around. This meeting, Claudia implies, is Monday’s fault—she’d still be quietly getting by in her classes if Monday could help her with her homework. But now, Claudia is on her own, and this is wildly uncomfortable. It also feels like a betrayal.
Themes
Everyone enters the conference room. Ms. O’Donnell is already there, and Claudia wants to vomit. Mr. Hill says everyone knows Claudia has been struggling, but Ma sharply says she has no idea. Ms. O’Donnell passes Claudia’s work to Ma and Daddy. Ma mutters that Claudia’s letters are backwards, and Mr. Hill says most of Claudia’s work is like this. Ms. O’Donnell asks if Ma and Daddy helped Claudia with her homework in years past, since this seems to be a new problem. Ma bristles at the implied accusation—but admits that Claudia used to do all her homework with a friend.
Finally, it comes out that Monday has been propping Claudia up in terms of schoolwork for years. When Ma makes it clear that she had no idea Claudia was struggling academically, it suggests there may be some issues with how the school communicates with parents. Mr. Hill implies that he expects Ma and Daddy to know—which shows, perhaps, that the school expects to work with highly involved parents and struggles to serve parents who aren’t as involved as possible.
Themes
Mr. Hill says they believe Claudia has dyslexia. The word seems to burn Claudia. She’s been avoiding it for years and now, it seems like a needle popping her bubble. Ma asks how this is possible when Claudia just aced a math test, but Mr. Hill explains that the math teacher prints her tests on blue paper—colored paper can make it easier for kids with dyslexia. Daddy asks why they didn’t catch this before now. Mr. Hill and Ms. O’Donnell don’t have an answer, but Mr. Hill suggests this could explain Claudia’s other behavioral issues.
The aside that Claudia has been avoiding the word “dyslexia” for years suggests that she’s known for some time that she struggles with this particular learning disability. The fact that it burns highlights how shameful she feels dyslexia is. Daddy’s question of why this diagnosis took so long suggests that the school doesn’t take as much time to get to know their students and help them succeed individually.
Themes
Incensed, Ma asks if Mr. Hill is referring to the picture spread over the internet, or the boy who touched Claudia’s butt. Mr. Hill reminds Ma this isn’t the only fight Claudia’s been in and Ma looks down. Daddy asks what’s going on, but Ma says they’ll talk later. Mr. Hill says the next step is to formally identify Claudia as a student with learning disabilities, which will entitle her to extra to help. Ms. O’Donnell says this is a good thing, since knowing is half the battle. Mr. Hill assures Ma and Daddy that they’ll get Claudia to graduation, while Ms. O’Donnell says they’ll get her resources.
In this passage, Ms. O’Donnell and Mr. Hill both talk about how the school will handle Claudia’s diagnosis, but their methods contrast sharply. Mr. Hill is concerned with assuring Ma and Daddy that Claudia will graduate, while Ms. O’Donnell wants them to know that they’ll help Claudia as much as they can. Ms. O’Donnell shows here why some students love her and appreciate her: she genuinely wants to get her students the help they need so they can succeed, even if she’s not as warm and outwardly caring as a teacher like Ms. Valente.
Themes
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Daddy says they need to speak in private and leads Ma and Claudia out to the car. Ma gripes about how rude Mr. Hill and Ms. O’Donnell were, and how ridiculous it is that they didn’t catch the dyslexia sooner. It seems like the school is just worried about their ranking, not Claudia. Daddy asks Ma what she’s keeping from him. He starts the car. As they pass Ed Borough, Claudia thinks this wouldn’t have happened if Monday were here to help. She asks if Daddy got in touch with Tip, but Dad tells Claudia to forget about Monday until her grades improve.
Here, Daddy is upset that Ma has apparently been concealing Claudia’s fight from him. But the way he’s spoken about Monday the last few months to Claudia is driving her to be more secretive. With this, the novel shows that Daddy doesn’t always behave in a way that encourages his family members to be truthful with him, even if he prizes the truth.
Themes
