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Chapter 26
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
When Sal helps Phoebe haul her suitcase home the next day, she says she knows Phoebe has been upset—but sometimes, she feels like “dumping [her] cholesterol-free body out the window.” Phoebe doesn’t respond and instead pesters Mr. Winterbottom with questions about Mrs. Winterbottom. He explains that Mrs. Winterbottom called Mrs. Cadaver to say she’s okay. He doesn’t know why she called Mrs. Cadaver, and Mrs. Cadaver is gone until Monday so they can’t ask. Phoebe insists that Mrs. Cadaver probably killed her mother, and she and her father argue. Finally, he agrees that if he hasn’t heard from Mrs. Winterbottom by Wednesday, he’ll call the police. Later, Phoebe tells Sal she’s going to go to the police station by herself.
Sal wants to support Phoebe, but by telling Phoebe how obnoxious she’s being, Sal seems to imply that Phoebe should be aware that she’s not the only one struggling right now. The revelation that Mrs. Winterbottom called Mrs. Cadaver is shocking for Phoebe. But while Phoebe jumps to the conclusion that Mrs. Cadaver is at fault, this mostly just shows that Mrs. Winterbottom was more connected to her neighbors than Phoebe ever realized. Her mother’s life, Phoebe is realizing, is a mystery to her.
Themes
On Monday, Phoebe gives her report on Pandora. She says that in his report on Prometheus, Ben got some things wrong: Zeus sent Pandora to humankind as a reward, since humans seemed lonely. There was a dinner with matching plates, and Zeus made Pandora feel like a “welcome guest.” Mary Lou and Ben exchange an eyebrow raise. Phoebe says Pandora was given many gifts, such as curiosity and a beautiful box she was forbidden to open. Ben asks questions throughout Phoebe’s presentation, all of which annoy her.
Phoebe adds in details to the Greek myth of Pandora’s box (like Zeus making Pandora feel like a “welcome guest”) as a way of expressing her own anger and insecurities. She insults Sal and the Finneys by insinuating that they’re poor hosts, and she treats Ben likes an annoyance. In this way, she’s pushing away all the people who are trying to help her cope with her mother’s disappearance.
Themes
Phoebe says that finally, Pandora opened the box. The box contained the evils of the world, including cholesterol, lunatics, and murder. This is why there’s evil in the world. But at the bottom of the box was one good thing: hope. Sal thinks about Pandora’s box that night. She wonders why anyone would put hope in a box with terrible things, though she acknowledges it’s a good thing. Sal figures there was another box that contained good things, like love, sunshine, and trees. Worry would probably be at the bottom of that box. Even when things are fine, Sal always worries things will change for the worse.
The story of Pandora’s box, and Sal’s made-up story about another box of good things and worry, suggest that there’s hidden complexity to every situation in life. Even in a world filled with evil, it’s possible to hope—and even if everything seems perfect, it’s still possible for something to go wrong.
Themes
Sal thinks that things seemed fine with her, Momma, and Dad until the baby died—and did the baby actually die, since it never got to breathe? Sal doesn’t think Phoebe’s family was fine, even before Mrs. Winterbottom disappeared. She knows that Phoebe believes the lunatic kidnapped Mrs. Winterbottom because she can’t imagine that her mother left of her own volition. Sal wants to tell Phoebe that perhaps Mrs. Winterbottom was just unhappy, and that it had nothing to do with Phoebe.
Things seemed fine to Sal before the baby died, but Sal has also left several clues that suggest Momma and Dad had a troubled marriage even before the stillbirth. It’s still difficult for Sal to view her own family objectively, since her perception of them is colored by her emotions and memories. It’s also hard for her to accept that Momma’s departure had nothing to do with her, or that the stories she’s told herself since then have been coping mechanisms rather than the truth. Yet it’s easy for her to notice the same things about Mrs. Winterbottom and Phoebe, perhaps because she’s looking at their family from an outsider’s perspective.
Themes
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As Sal gets to this point in the story, Gram and Gramps exchange a look. And it occurs to Sal that maybe Momma’s departure didn’t have anything to do with her—people don’t own their mothers. Sal starts to wonder if maybe she and Phoebe can just hope that things will improve.
Sal’s newfound ability to recognize her own story reflected in Phoebe’s hearkens back to the beginning of the novel, when she said that Momma’s story is hidden behind Mrs. Winterbottoms’ (like the fireplace hidden behind the wall). Phoebe’s story is helping Sal come to terms with the fact that Momma left, and that she isn’t to blame for Tulip’s death or for Momma leaving. Perhaps Momma, like Mrs. Winterbottom, was just unhappy and needed alone time. It’s also a mark of Sal’s growing maturity that she recognizes that mothers, including her own, are their own people—they don’t exist solely to serve their spouses and children. Finally, Sal’s thought about hoping for the best ties in with the story of Pandora’s box and with the idea that people can choose not to let “birds of sadness” nest in their hair. Just as it’s always possible for disaster to strike, it’s also possible that things will improve—and people can choose whether to fixate on tragedy (as Phoebe does) or hold onto hope.
Themes
