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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Such a Fun Age, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
External Behavior vs. Internal Truth
White Guilt, Ignorance, and Redemption
The Quest for Meaning
Race, Class, and Privilege
Summary
Analysis
Alix returns from New York, puts Catherine in her room to nap, and gives Briar an iPad. Then she and Peter have sex in the bathroom. Alix hears Emira come through the front door only seconds after she and Peter finish, which fills her with glee. New York has rejuvenated Alix. She visited all her favorite places, bought Catherine a beanie, and attended a Hillary Clinton campaign event in high heels. She took enough photos to fill her Instagram feed for weeks. And she’s been in contact with Tamra’s professor friend at the New School, who is looking forward to working with Alix.
While being a mother doesn’t mean that Alix’s children have to be her only priority in life, it seems rather unfeeling that Alix would immediately sit Briar down in front of an iPad instead of reconnecting with her—especially when Alix also notes that she only bought a souvenir for Catherine. This scene reaffirms how little Alix cares about Briar’s inner life when she can’t use it to promote her brand and her business.
Themes
Alix walks downstairs and energetically greets Emira and Briar. Alix realizes how much she’s missed them both. After Peter leaves for work, Alix gets down to business: being in New York has given her the confidence she needs to confront Emira about Kelley. Alix tells Emira she needs to talk. Emira says okay, but she’s distracted—she’s taking Briar to a “mommy-and-me” movie at the theater that afternoon, and she doesn’t want to be late. Alix says, “Neat!” but cringes at her forced cheerfulness. Emira asks Alix if she can use the computer to check the movie showtime. She confirms that the movie is at 12:45, and then she logs in to her email to send the theater’s address to herself. Then, she returns to Alix to resume their chat.
Alix is more in her element not because of anything she’s actually done but because of the way New York has made her look and feel. She can act like an empowered working mom playing mentor to her younger babysitter because she feels and looks the part. That Emira—and not Alix—is taking Briar to a “mommy-and-me” movie reinforces what an inactive role Alix plays in Briar’s life. And perhaps she doesn’t care about missing out on this experience, either, because there’s no place for it in the sleek, cool working-mom persona she’s revitalized during her time in New York.
Themes
Alix begins by thanking Emira “for being such a superwoman” about everything that night. She promises Emira that she doesn’t want the situation with Kelley to be weird. Emira laughs—Alix and Kelley dated in high school, which was such a long time ago. Emira’s response stings and makes Alix feel old, but she tries to conceal her hurt. She tells Emira that she’s okay with Emira seeing Kelley, but she also needs Emira to know that Kelley isn’t a good person. Alix knows that people can change, but Kelley has a history of fetishizing Black people and Black culture, and Alix is afraid the Kelley is just using Emira for validation.
Alix calls Emira “such a superwoman” to try to level with Emira, empowered woman to empowered woman, but Emira refuses to play along. She and Alix aren’t equals, and she makes this clear when she implicitly calls Alix old with the comment that high school was many years ago for Alix and Kelley. Alix tries again, though, this time trying to reach Emira by insinuating that she is only talking about Kelley out of concern for Emira. But based on all that readers know about Alix’s lingering resentment toward Kelley, it’s clear that Alix’s reasons for interfering in the relationship are selfishly motivated, too: she wants to get back at Kelley for wronging her all those years ago.
Themes
Emira pauses. Then she tells Alix that she actually thinks Kelley is dating her because she’s “pretty chill and dateable,” not because of her race. Alix realizes she’s messing up and starts to panic. Emira continues. Everybody does dumb things in high school, she reasons. Emira used to call things “so gay,” for example. Inwardly, Alix recalls how she used to use the word “Oriental” before a college friend corrected her. But the Kelley situation is more serious. And Alix knows that protecting Emira from him is “the right thing” to do. When Emira asks Alix if it’s okay that she continues to see Kelley, Alix says yes, knowing that her answer won’t impact Emira’s decision. Emira stands there silently before awkwardly telling Alix that Peter usually just leaves cash for her on the counter. Alix hands Emira $30, and Emira and Briar leave for the movie theater.
Alix tries to control this awkward conversation with Emira, but Emira refuses to let her gain the upper hand. She thwarts Alix’s attempt to seem like she cares about Emira, insinuating that it’s Alix herself, not Kelley, who undervalues Emira. When Emira suggests that Kelley is dating her because she’s “pretty chill and dateable,” not because she’s Black, she’s forcing Alix to acknowledge that she (Alix) is guilty of the exact thing of which she accuses Kelley: of valuing Emira for her Blackness alone and discounting all the other aspects of her character. Finally, when Alix tries to tell herself that protecting Emira is “the right thing to do,” it complicates the situation a bit. The novel doesn’t simply paint Alix as an unambiguous villain. Rather, it shows how Alix’s ignorance about Emira’s struggles and Alix’s own motivations corrupts her desire to do well by Emira. Alix really does seem to believe she’s doing the right thing for Emira, but it’s complicated by the fact that she arrived there through questionable means—through petty anger toward Kelley, not a pure intention to help Emira.
Themes
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After Emira and Briar leave, Alix puts on some lipstick, smooths her hair, and walks to Rittenhouse Square. She knows from reading Emira’s texts where Kelley works and when he breaks for lunch. She arrives at Rittenhouse Square and spots Kelley on the sidewalk, sandwiched between two well-dressed Black men. “Oh, you’re good,” thinks Alix. When Kelley sees Alix, he looks like a kid whose mother is embarrassing him in front of his friends. Kelley reluctantly parts ways with the other men and approaches Alix. He’s annoyed and asks what she wants. Alix orders him to follow her next door. They go inside the building and sit down at some café tables in the lobby.
When Alix sees Kelley surrounded by Black men, it bolsters her confidence. It proves to her that Kelley does fetishize Black people, and she also believes it proves that she’s morally correct to interfere in Emira’s relationship with him (even if Emira herself has told Alix that this isn’t necessary). As Alix has done on numerous occasions, she creates in her mind a version of reality that she can live with. And sometimes, this means projecting blame or guilt onto others so that she can better live with her own guilt.
Themes
Alix gets down to business. She tells Kelley that she’s “concerned” about him dating Emira (whom she calls “my sitter”). Inwardly, Alix observes how cute Kelley looks, even when he’s irritated. Aloud, Alix insists that Kelley doesn’t understand “privacy” and accuses him of using their high school’s Black athletes to become popular. She refuses to let him do the same thing “with someone who is like family to [her].”
Alix’s language here is telling. She claims that she’s acting out of concern for Emira. But when she repeatedly refers to Emira as “my sitter,” she betrays her real (and perhaps unconscious) desire to possess and control Emira. Thus, Alix’s attack on Kelley becomes more about herself than about Emira. Alix’s lack of self-awareness also comes through in this scene when she ironically accuses Kelley of not understanding “privacy.” Alix is, at present, actively invading Emira’s privacy by reading her texts and interfering in her love life.
Themes
Kelley expresses disbelief that, all these years later, Alix still can’t understand that she was wrong to call the police on Robbie and his friends. He angrily tells her to get over herself—that the only thing he ever did was break up with her. Break-ups are hard, but at the end of the day, what happened between them is not unique. He also denies fetishizing Emira and says that he’s in love with her. Also, Emira is a grown woman who can make decisions for herself. Kelley’s calm and collected demeanor enrages Alix. They had been in love—and now he’s dating her sitter. How is this situation not supposed to make her crazy?
Kelley belittles Alix when he recasts her attack as her being bitter about their long-ago breakup. It’s a power play meant to cut into Alix’s moral righteousness and make her feel like a lovesick young girl. And yet, Kelley is pretty spot-on in his observation. That Alix, a woman in her 30s, should be so worked up over her high school boyfriend dating her child’s babysitter is incredibly immature and petty. Overall, Kelley is making a better case here. He sees the hurt Alix did to Robbie as the only mistake worth still being upset about. Alix’s misguided decision to call the police on Robbie robbed Robbie of his scholarship, whereas Kelley's supposed betrayal of Alix didn’t really affect her life in a meaningful way.
Themes
Alix collects herself. She smiles and tells Kelley that if he doesn’t tell Emira what he did to Alix, then Alix will tell Emira herself. Kelley groans in frustration. There’s nothing to tell—the only thing he did to Alix was break up with her. He never received the letter she’s talking about. Then he turns the tables on Alix: has she told Emira what she did to Robbie? Kelley tells Alix that Emira deserves to work for people who let her wear her own clothes. He suggests that Alix should have known that sending Emira and Briar to “a super-white grocery store” late at night would have bad consequences for Emira. Finally, he asks Alix why she’s making Emira work on her birthday if Emira is really like family to her.
For Kelley, Alix’s thoughtless decision to send Emira to “a super-white grocery store” late at night with Alix’s young child in tow is uncannily similar to the mistake Alix made years ago in calling the police on Robbie and Robbie’s friends. In both cases, Alix’s privilege prevented her from seeing how her experiences as an upper-class white woman are fundamentally different from the experiences of racial minorities like Robbie and Emira. Just as Alix (Alex) hadn’t thought that calling the police on Robbie would have real consequences for Robbie, she didn’t think that sending Emira to Market Depot late at night might put Emira in harm’s way. Finally, Kelley’s remark about Emira deserving to wear her own clothes, a dig at the LetHer Speak polo that has become Emira’s unofficial babysitting uniform, suggests that Alix has become as possessive of Emira as Alix’s parents were of Claudette. Kelley is suggesting that Alix has become just as problematic as her parents, whom she has long claimed to despise.
Themes
Alix returns home, enraged. She checks her email and sees two messages from her editor, Maura, who has apparently seen Alix’s New York Instagram posts and knows Alix is messing around when she should be writing. Maura’s first email is only lightly passive aggressive, but in the second email, she threatens to alter their contract if Alix continues to ignore her.
Alix returns home and receives a highly unusual type of (electronic) letter: an email that threatens to take something away from her. Maura’s message shakes Alix up because she’s normally so accustomed to people and businesses giving her what she wants. It turns out that simply appearing successful and motivated isn’t actually enough for Alix to be successful—she actually has to do the work, too.
Themes
Suddenly, Alix hears a noise coming from the baby monitor, and she freezes when she realizes that she’d left Catherine alone in her crib when she went to confront Kelley. In a panic, Alix runs to retrieve Catherine. “Had Kelley really made her forget her own baby?” she asks herself.
Alix’s obsession with Kelley is really what caused her to make the careless mistake of leaving Catherine unattended in her crib. Yet Alix revises the narrative, suggesting that “Kelley really made her forget her own baby.” Alix crafts a story that makes Kelley the aggressor and herself the victim.
Themes
Alix returns to the computer, Catherine in her arms, and notices another tab pulled up. She clicks on it and sees Emira’s email account. Then, very purposefully, Alix types in Kelley’s name and pulls up the email he sent Emira with a video attachment of the recording he made the night of the Market Depot incident. Alix downloads the file to her computer and hides it in a folder labeled Spring Blog Posts. Then she deletes the search history from Emira’s account and calls Laney Thacker to ask for a favor.
In a moment of almost comically un-self-aware irony, Alix goes into Emira’s email and steals the Market Depot incident, which is Emira’s personal property. She does this almost immediately after criticizing Kelley for not understanding privacy. Yet Alix seemingly remains unaware of her hypocrisy. She’s been telling stories that paint herself as Kelley’s victim or Emira’s savior for so long that she seems to believe them herself.
Themes
