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Chapter 36. The After
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
At some point, Claudia starts to like the Learning Center. The TLC tutors offer her books on CD, and it’s like how Monday used to read to her. She finally feels like her old self—her grades are better, her Banneker interview is next month, and she feels more or less good about life. But then, Ms. Valente rushes into the room and pulls Claudia out. Ms. Valente leads Claudia quickly into the teacher’s lounge, closes the door, and says Claudia was right—she went by Monday’s house yesterday and there’s definitely something wrong with Mrs. Charles.
Claudia is starting to move on from Monday’s disappearance. It’s telling that she starts to feel this way only once she gets a handle on her dyslexia, as this shows just how much Claudia’s dyslexia was holding her back prior to her diagnosis. When Ms. Valente—an adult and someone whom Claudia trusts—insists that something is wrong with Mrs. Charles, it confirms Claudia’s fears that something very wrong is happening at Monday’s house.
Themes
Ms. Valente says that Mrs. Charles wouldn’t let her in, but she saw a little girl—Tuesday—in dirty underwear. She called 911, but apparently social services has seen Monday and believes she’s fine. Ms. Valente doesn’t believe it. Then, Ms. Valente says that last year, when Monday was absent for a few weeks, she wasn’t sick. Monday and her siblings were taken out of the house for neglect, and Mrs. Charles had to take parenting classes to get the kids back. Monday never mentioned this to Claudia.
Ms. Valente’s unsatisfactory call to social services suggests again that the different organizations that could help Monday aren’t communicating with each other effectively. This means that Monday could’ve fallen through the cracks. Revealing that Monday and her siblings were previously taken away for neglect confirms that Monday was suffering at home—and that Monday kept secrets from her.
Themes
Ms. Valente asks Claudia if Monday ever seemed terrified of Mrs. Charles. Claudia insists that everyone’s afraid of their mother, but she also thinks back to Monday’s terror when Mrs. Charles came to deal with the girls’ fight at school. Ms. Valente assures Claudia that Monday is probably fine, but she makes Claudia promise to never go to Monday’s house again. Something is wrong there. Claudia promises, but she intends to break it.
Claudia tells Ms. Valente that Monday wasn’t afraid, but Claudia also seems to instinctively know that she’s lying. Monday did seem more terrified of Mrs. Charles than is normal. And given that Monday was taken out of her house for neglect, Claudia may now have her answer as to why Monday was so afraid of Mrs. Charles.
Themes
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