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Chapter 23
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
Mrs. Chamberlain opens the front door and lets Emira and Zara inside. Zara gasps at the interior. They’ve arrived with Dunkin’ Donuts coffees, but Zara ditches hers for one of Tamra’s cold brews. Mrs. Chamberlain calls Emira “sweetie,” which feels weird to Emira, but she tries to convince herself that Mrs. Chamberlain’s affection will feel more natural with time. Laney Thacker greets Emira warmly and tells her to quickly finish up her makeup—they’ll start recording in 20 minutes. Emira and Zara head to the girls’ bathroom. Once inside, Zara remarks, “They’s some mad plantation vibes up in here.” Emira tells Zara to cool it—she’s going to be spending a lot of time here.
Everything has changed now that Emira has agreed to humor Alix and do this interview with Laney Thacker. Alix sees Emira’s cooperation as evidence of their budding friendship. She doesn’t seem to see how her status as Emira’s (soon-to-be fulltime) employer pressures Emira into doing the interview. All that matters to Alix is that she gets what she wants out of her friendship with Emira—not that Emira gets anything out of it in return. Meanwhile, Zara’s observation about the “plantation vibes” suggests she can tell that there’s something sinister going on here—that the Chamberlains, like slaveholders on a plantation, are abusing Emira.
Themes
Emira can’t find her baby comb in her makeup bag and assumes it must be in her backpack. She asks Zara to go get it for her. Zara jokingly guffaws at Emira’s newfound confidence. “She think she cute now that she got a job but okay,” she says. But she leaves to retrieve the backpack. Emira turns back toward the mirror and works on her makeup. She thinks about the video. She spent the weekend looking through Google comments—she couldn’t help herself. Most of them are supportive, but they’ve also made a joke of the incident. One comment read, “This is fucked up but I’m also dying laughing.” Emira thinks the video has generated so much amusement because “no one got hurt.” It’s a way for people to witness racism “without seeing any blood or ruining the rest of [their] day.”
The disparaging comments that Emira’s video has received only reaffirm how ignorant Alix is if she thinks that releasing the video was in Emira’s best interest. In the short term, at least, all it’s done is force Emira to relive the vulnerability and judgment of that night. Again, though well-intentioned, Alix ultimately makes decisions based on what will benefit her—how her decisions make her appear in the public eye. She’s only secondarily concerned with how her actions will affect Emira.
Themes
Kelley has been calling Emira all weekend, but she hasn’t picked up. She’s been receiving a lot of other calls, too—from people who suddenly want to interview or hire her. In fact, Beverly, her boss at the Green Party office, has offered to take on Emira full-time. Emira thinks about her future with the Chamberlains. Their Thanksgiving invitation didn’t make her feel like family—but her new contract and tax forms have done just that. Now, she’ll be making more money than she ever has. And now, it will be her name that’s listed as the emergency contact on Briar’s ballet and swim class documents.
Emira’s refusal to accept Kelley calls reaffirms her ignorance about Alix. She still believes that Kelley, not Alix, released the video. Emira’s observation about how her higher paychecks will make her feel more like family that Thanksgiving had reinforces how transactional her relationship with the Chamberlains is. Alix wants to see Emira as a friend, but this will never be possible so long as Emira’s financial security is in her hands.
Themes
Zara reappears, interrupting Emira’s fantasies about the future. There’s a serious expression on her face as she tells Emira that they have to talk: Emira can’t work for the Chamberlains anymore. Zara explains how when she went downstairs to retrieve Emira’s backpack, she overheard Mrs. Chamberlain ask “that Uncle Tom Tamra woman” if she did the right thing, and Tamra said yes. Emira freezes, trying to think of an innocent explanation for the conversation. But she comes up blank. “That lady leaked your tape,” Zara says bluntly. In a flash, Emira thinks back to the day she used the Chamberlains’ computer to look up the movie showtime. She’d emailed herself the theater’s address, and she hadn’t logged out of her account. All at once, Emira realizes that Zara is right.
Zara’s description of Tamra as “that Uncle Tom Tamra woman” references the 19th-century American novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. An “Uncle Tom,” referencing the book’s title character, is a Black person who betrays their cultural or social identity to be excessively obedient toward or accommodating of white people and white culture. So when Zara calls Tamra an “Uncle Tom,” she’s suggesting that Tamra has betrayed her allegiance to her Black racial identity to achieve success among the predominantly white, privileged society that people like Alix inhabit. This moment is also important because it’s the moment that Emira realizes that Kelley has been right about Alix all along.
Themes
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Emira knows she can’t work for the Chamberlains after what Alix did to her. But she also realizes she won’t have a job. Zara asks if Emira can survive on her typing job alone. Emira mentions how Beverly, her Green Party boss, called her about taking her on full-time as a receptionist.
Once again, Emira’s ability to control her destiny is limited by her relative lack of privilege; however, her circumstances have improved with the release of the video, and she now has more opportunities to find immediate work elsewhere than she had before.
Themes
Zara tells Emira to call Beverly back immediately and work out the offer. Outside, Laney calls out to them, “Five minutes to places, ladies!” Emira hurriedly dials Beverly’s number, trying her best to sound professional. Beverly answers. At first, she offers to take Emira on at $16 per hour, 35 hours a week, but Zara says Emira won’t get benefits at that rate. Eventually, they negotiate the offer: Emira will accept a rate of $13 per hour with full benefits. It’s less than she’s making now, but it’s full-time, and she can tell that Beverly will do everything she can to advocate for a higher rate. Zara takes her hand: this new job is only temporary, and it’ll look good on her resume. Unlike her current babysitting job.
Beverly’s offer of employment gives Emira the financial security she needs to make decisions that are in her best interest—a freedom she didn’t have before. This scene is also critical because it illustrates what women helping women actually looks like. Alix’s LetHer Speak purports to be about female empowerment, but in reality, every action Alix made to improve Emira mostly benefited Alix herself, and not Emira. Alix acted to improve her public image, not to improve Emira’s life. Zara, on the other hand, helps Emira land the best job she’s ever had.
Themes
Emira accepts the offer just as Mrs. Chamberlain knocks on the bathroom door. Zara opens the door as Emira ends the call. Mrs. Chamberlain tells Emira she looks pretty, then she tells them that they have to hurry: the interview will start soon. As they head downstairs, Laney cheerily tells everyone to get to their places. In response to Laney’s order, Mrs. Chamberlain discreetly turns to Emira and makes a face, as though to say “God, she’s a lot, am I right?” Though Emira had planned to just ditch the interview altogether, Mrs. Chamberlain’s cruelty toward Laney sets her off. She tells Zara to be ready to “make a scene” when Emira gives her the signal. Emira and Zara jump up and down, silently celebrating Emira’s new, promising future. But in the back of Emira’s mind, she thinks about how soon, Briar won’t remember her.
When Alix compliments Emira’s physical appearance, it reaffirms the superficiality of Alix’s efforts to improve Emira. Alix’s catty criticism of Laney in this scene seems to be a moment of reckoning to Emira. Before, Emira thought she would feel satisfied by simply walking out on the interview and leaving her time working for the Chamberlains behind her. Now, though, she seems to feel a renewed sense of obligation to put Alix in her place and show her that her superficiality and ignorance are unacceptable. So with Alix’s fateful mistake of making a joke at Laney’s expense, and with Emira’s ambiguous direction to Zara to “make a scene,” readers may rest assured that something dramatic will go down during the Laney Thacker interview.
Themes
