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Chapter 18. 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
Claudia says she saw Jacob Miller a while ago. They hadn’t seen each other since “it” happened and the police were questioning everyone about Monday. After they found Monday, Jacob switched schools, drank, and smoked. People say that what happened to Monday changed him, but Claudia doesn’t believe it. She thinks he’s still using Monday—and she hopes it messed with him the same way he messed with Monday. Ma encourages Claudia to forgive him. This is why Ma would be pink if she were a color. She’s sweet and loving. But when Ma doesn’t get what she needs, she becomes white, “a color aching in want.”
Finally, Claudia reveals that “they” did find Monday at some point. But she also implies that the circumstances surrounding Monday’s discovery were traumatizing, given how Jacob responded. Claudia doesn’t want to forgive Jacob because she’s so loyal to Monday, and Jacob hurt her by blowing her off at school. The note that Ma is sometimes “aching in want” suggests that Ma hasn’t gotten everything she wants out of life—and maybe takes her disappointments out on others.
Themes
