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Chapter 24. January
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
Monday stumbles into Ms. Valente’s homeroom. She’s trembling, her braids are a mess, and her tongue is white, but she tells Ms. Valente she’s fine. Claudia asks Monday if she’s okay, but Monday doesn’t respond. All day, Monday acts like a zombie. Claudia is confused—Monday sounded fine when Claudia called from Georgia on Christmas. After school, Claudia hurries to the library. She realizes that Monday is following her and asks where August is. Monday looks terrified and stammers that he’s sick.
The way that Monday looks and acts when she gets to school suggests that something horrible happened at home over the holidays. Her white tongue in particular is an indicator that Monday is dehydrated and perhaps has been for some time. Given that the “January” chapter confirmed that Monday was being abused, Monday’s terror when Claudia asks about August takes on additional weight, as it raises that possibility that something horrible happened to him.
Themes
Monday improves over the next month, but August doesn’t. When Claudia asks about him one day, Monday insists he’s still sick—and nastily tells Claudia it’s none of her business. She insults Claudia and tells her to leave it alone. Confused and hurt, Claudia says she cares about August because he’s Monday’s brother. Monday tells Claudia to stop worrying about her brother just because Claudia doesn’t have one of her own. Claudia gasps and Monday apologizes, but Claudia runs ahead to the library. This is the girls’ first fight, and Claudia doesn’t know what she did to cause it.
In Claudia’s mind, she’s just expressing concern by continuing to ask about August. It’s a way to show that she cares about Monday and her siblings—hence her confusion when Monday is seemingly offended. However, it’s significant that Claudia doesn’t question why Monday responds so nastily to her concern. Claudia may again be ignoring a clue that Monday and August are suffering at home.
Themes
