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Chapter 33. 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
Ms. Manis stops Claudia in the middle of her solo routine and asks if Claudia is okay. She tells Claudia that she’s dancing without emotion—and she’s unsure if Claudia’s ready for a solo. Claudia says that the song is just too slow, but Ms. Manis says that Claudia won’t always get what she wants.
Claudia wanted a fast song so she could use some of the moves that she and Monday choreographed. But being given a slow song for her solo means that Claudia has to figure out who she is as a dancer without Monday’s help, something that’s very uncomfortable for her.
Themes
In a letter to Monday, Claudia asks if Monday took all of her clothes. She’s trying to figure out what to wear and hears Monday’s voice in her head, telling her that the outfits make her look too young. She begs Monday to not be upset that she’s going to a game without her.
Claudia doesn’t just miss Monday—she also doesn’t want to leave Monday behind by taking part in these coming-of-age activities without her best friend. Claudia is growing up, but doing so without Monday at her side feels wrong and like an act of betrayal.
Themes
Claudia is sweating and it’s the middle of winter—she never imagined going to her first high school game without Monday. Ma pulls up at Cardozo High School, where a few volunteers pass out flyers about the need to save Ed Borough. Claudia is suddenly gripped with fear, but Michael taps on the window and leads Claudia into the school.
Again, Claudia is afraid because she’s never even considered that she’d do something like go to a basketball game without Monday around. Michael’s arrival, though, shows Claudia that there is a way forward if she’s willing and to make some new friends. Meanwhile, the flyers about saving Ed Borough ensure that readers don’t forget how precarious Ed Borough residents’ living situations are at the moment.
Themes
In the bleachers, Claudia blushes and tells herself it’s not a date. Michael helps her out of her coat and grazes Claudia’s neck with his fingers, making Claudia feel sparks. They chat nervously about sports, and Claudia wonders what Monday would think. Who will she talk to about boys if Monday doesn’t return? Then, the dance team takes the court. Claudia spots Megan in the back and thinks that what’s missing from her own solo routine is fun. As the dancers finish, Claudia thinks that soon, she and Monday will be out there dancing.
Claudia is so caught up in what Monday would think or feel that she’s barely able to consider what she thinks or feels. When she’s only able to consider her own thoughts or desires upon seeing the dance team, it suggests that dance is helping Claudia develop her independence and understand both herself and the world around her. But this doesn’t mean that Claudia has totally divorced her love of dance from Monday—in her mind, dancing and Monday still go together and always will.
Themes
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Suddenly, Claudia notices a sweater she gave Monday last year—on April. April is sitting on a lower level with a boy whispering in her ear. The boy gets up and forcefully guides April into the school. April looks defeated. Claudia leaps up and follows, crossing the court to do so and getting in the way of the game. She races into the school, shouting for April. She finally hears April’s voice coming from a classroom. April tells the guy, Keith, to stop, but in a light, giggly voice that Claudia finds confusing.
Chasing after April like this illustrates how dedicated Claudia is to tracking down Monday. She has no qualms with crossing a basketball court during a game and getting in the way if it means getting one step closer to solving the mystery of where Monday went.
Themes
Claudia peeks into a classroom and sees April laying on a desk, the boy with his pants down between her legs. She pushes the door open, startling April and Keith. Claudia can’t fathom why April would do this when she knows how much it embarrasses Monday. Michael runs up to join Claudia and seems to know Keith. He explains that Claudia is just a girl from church, which offends Claudia. Michael sighs that April doesn’t even go here and is just here to have sex. He starts to ask if she’s too old, but stops suddenly. Both he and April look to Claudia to see if she noticed anything. April shrieks for Michael and Claudia to go back to the game and Keith tells April he’s leaving. The way he brushes her off reminds Claudia of how Jacob treated Monday.
Because Claudia loves and cares for Monday so much, it seems obvious to her that April should stop having sex if doing so would make Monday’s life easier. April and Michael’s exchange is also confusing, especially when Michael asks if April is too old and seems concerned that Claudia might have noticed something. Though readers won’t figure out why they act this way until later in the novel, this confusion encourages readers to be on the lookout for other instances where things don’t seem to add up.
Themes
Once Keith leaves, Claudia asks to talk to April alone. Michael heads back to the gym, angry. Claudia apologizes and then asks if Monday has been by. April laughs, asks Claudia if she’s still “at this,” and says she’ll play along: Monday is at her aunt’s. Claudia, confused, says that Tuesday said Monday was at home. April stops cold and snarls at Claudia to leave Tuesday alone. Claudia asks if April misses Monday at all and says that she knew Monday better than anyone.
Again, April’s reaction to Claudia’s questions seem odd—but they’re intentionally confusing, as this moment is meant to be as jarring and confusing to Claudia as it is to the reader. To Claudia, it seems as though April doesn’t love Monday enough to care about where she went. In comparison, Claudia thinks she loved Monday more and better, which is why she starts to berate April here.
Themes
April tells Claudia she’s wrong: Monday’s favorite color wasn’t pink, for instance; she agreed to pink because Claudia and Monday couldn’t both love purple. And Claudia was Monday’s only friend, so Monday did whatever Claudia wanted. The only other person she had was “that dude she fucked”—April says it wasn’t Jacob. Claudia tells herself that April lies and notices a burn scar on her wrist. April refuses to tell her anything about it and walks away.
April starts to poke holes in Claudia’s conception of Monday. She suggests that Monday was desperate to keep Claudia as a friend and so was willing to subsume her own desires to please Claudia. This reveals that Monday might not have been the person Claudia thought she was.
Themes
