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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Walk Two Moons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Judgment, Perspective, and Storytelling
Parents, Children, and Growing Up
Grief
Nature
Summary
Analysis
Sal doesn’t mention Dad much as she tells Phoebe’s story to Gram and Gramps. Dad is one of four sons, but his three brothers have died. Dad is good, kind, and honest. He likes plain things, and he loved the farm in Bybanks. Sal can tell he doesn’t like working in an office in Euclid, since there’s nothing “real” to touch. Momma was right: Dad is good, since he's always coming up with small things to cheer other people up. Sal believes this bothered Momma because she wanted to keep up with him, but that was impossible for her. He’d do things like dig up flowering bushes he found and plant them in Gram’s garden, or bring small things back for Momma and Sal when he went to buy farm supplies. He always chooses the perfect gift.
It's clear that Sal admires her father as she describes him in this passage, which adds nuance to Sal’s strained relationship with him throughout the book. Her resentment of Dad seems to be rooted in how he’s coping with Momma’s absence, not in a dislike of who he is. However, Sal does suggest that Dad’s “goodness” is something that caused conflict in his and Momma’s marriage, as Momma didn’t feel like she was good enough for him. This passage also characterizes Dad as someone who treats the natural world with reverence—wanting to touch “real” things shows that Dad thinks of nature as healing and invigorating.
Themes
Sal has never seen Dad angry, and not long before she left, Momma nastily accused Dad of not being human. This bothered Sal—it seemed to her like Momma wanted Dad to be mean. Then, two days before Momma left, she said she felt “rotten” in comparison to Dad. She took offense when Dad said she wasn’t rotten, and then she said she needed to leave and clear her head and heart of bad things. She insisted she had to go, since she wasn’t good or brave. And she told Dad to call her by her real name, Chanhassen, instead of Sugar.
Sal picks up on the possibility that Momma wasn’t happy and was struggling with self-esteem issues as she got closer to leaving. Dad’s kindness toward Momma seems to have just made her feel worse about herself. Previously, Sal also revealed that Momma cut her hair around this time as well, which may have helped her reorient her identity. While her long hair was associated with who she was (Sugar), her new, short haircut was associated with who she wanted to be (Chanhassen).
Themes
Sal figured Momma would ultimately decide to stay—or, if she was going to leave, tell Sal first. But instead, Momma left Sal a letter explaining that she’d be home “before the tulips bloomed.” This, of course, didn’t happen. Dad continued to work after Momma left, and he continued to stash gifts for Momma in the bedroom. Then, after it became clear Momma wasn’t coming back and Dad made the trip to Lewiston, he started chipping away at the plaster wall. This eventually revealed the hidden fireplace. In the new grout between the bricks, he wrote Momma’s name: Chanhassen.
Because Sal was so close to Momma and so set in her perception of who her mother was, she never expected Momma to actually leave. After Momma did leave, and Sal and Dad found out that she wasn’t coming back, Dad’s process of chipping away at the plaster wall and discovering the fireplace was a cathartic process. It’s as though, through this symbolic act, he came to terms with who Momma truly was rather than who Sal and Dad wanted her to be—just as he uncovered what was truly hidden beneath the wall. Writing Momma’s preferred name in the fireplace grout was a way to honor her and show her that he respected who she wanted to be—even though Sal makes it seem like Momma will never return to see her name etched into the grout.
Themes
Three weeks later, Dad put the farm up for sale. Sal was aware that Dad and Mrs. Cadaver were writing each other letters. He went to visit her once and announced that he had a new job in Euclid when he got home. Sal was too busy throwing temper tantrums to care about Mrs. Cadaver. She was convinced they couldn’t leave, since Momma might come back. Finally, Dad agreed to rent the farm instead of selling it—but he insisted they had to go to Euclid, since Momma was haunting the farm. Eventually, Sal ran out of steam and agreed to go to Euclid.
Again, the fact that Dad and Margaret were corresponding before Dad and Sal moved to Euclid creates a sense of mystery about how they met and what the nature of their relationship is. Meanwhile, in Sal’s mind, Momma’s emotional and spiritual connection to the farm is so great that she can’t believe Momma won’t return to this place. And though Dad seems to accept that Momma won’t return, he nevertheless echoes the idea that Momma is spiritually connected to the farm when he insists that Momma is haunting the property.
Themes
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So, as Sal tells Phoebe’s story to Gram and Gramps, she leaves out everything about Dad. They already know that Dad felt he had to leave the farm, and that Sal wanted nothing to do with Margaret. On the day Sal and Dad left the farm, Sal wished that Dad was meaner. Then, she’d be able to blame him for Momma leaving, since Sal didn’t want to blame Momma.
In Sal’s mind, Momma can do no wrong. So even if Sal might resent Momma for leaving on some level, she’s trying to come up with any reason to shift the blame onto someone else. The answer, she decides, is to try to blame Dad, which is part of the reason why she’s so closed off from him. But because Dad is so kind, this is difficult for Sal—and by wishing Dad was meaner, she echoes Momma’s own resentment of Dad’s goodness.
Themes
