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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Piecing Me Together, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Intersectionality, Identity, and Discrimination
The Power of Language
Mentorship, Opportunity, and Dignity
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
For Thanksgiving, E.J. and Lee Lee join Mom and Jade for their traditional volunteer shift at the Portland Rescue Mission. Jade hopes that one day, they can just be thankful and not have to compare themselves to others who have even less. After volunteering, they go home and eat all their favorite dishes. Lee Lee shares that one of her teachers doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. E.J. remembers this teacher and he reminisces that she said Thanksgiving should be a national day of mourning. He explains to Mom that they’re basically celebrating that white people stole land from indigenous people. Jade’s dinner suddenly doesn’t taste as good, and Mom says that she thinks of it as a personal day of thanks but that the teacher has a point.
Jade’s shock suggests that she hasn’t thought about Thanksgiving’s implications before—which is another way in which the novel suggests that Northside is giving its students more to think about, if not a better and more useful educational experience than St. Francis offers. Given Jade’s interest in York, this is also a time where she has to confront the possibility that York was complicit in displacing indigenous people. Just like everyone else, York is a morally complex individual, but because he’s symbolic of Jade’s own struggles, he helps her think through where she stands on these issues.
Themes
Lee Lee continues that this teacher always asks them to think about other perspectives; next week, they’re meeting up with teens from a program at the Native American Youth and Family Center. E.J. remembers doing that exchange too. Jade is embarrassed—she didn’t even know there was a Native American community center in Portland. E.J. and Lee Lee debate for a long time, and finally Mom asks Jade for her opinion. Jade carefully says that the U.S. has lots to apologize for and lots to be thankful for. The mood doesn’t lighten up until Mom pulls out the peach cobbler that Lee Lee and Jade made. It tastes awful, but they all laugh.
This Northside teacher appears to be teaching her students about intersectionality and diversity in a very purposeful way. Introducing her students to different people around the city shows the students that Portland is more diverse than they may have thought, something that helps them develop empathy for others. Hearing about these experiences also help Jade develop empathy and realize that just as she’s a multifaceted person, her home is a multifaceted place.
Themes
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