Previous
Part 5: Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Trash, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Childhood, Poverty, and Injustice
Corruption, Power, and Theft
Community, Loyalty, and Solidarity
Intelligence, Education, and Street Smarts
Summary
Analysis
The little girl, who has long black hair and a school uniform on, is sitting patiently atop a higher grave. Raphael explains to her that they’re looking for José Angelico. The girl didn’t think José was coming—she’s been waiting for a week and he hasn’t come. Rat asks who the girl is, and she responds, “Pia Dante.” Raphael goes cold and he nearly falls down. He thinks they’re looking at Pia Dante’s ghost sitting across from her own grave, waiting to see her father.
The plot thickens as the reader learns that Pia Dante isn’t actually dead, making the boys realize that there’s more to her grave than meets the eye. The image of a young orphan waiting alone for her father in a graveyard for several days incites pity for the trials of the poor in the city, as she has likely had to fend for herself during this time.
Themes
