Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Puberty
Friendship, Fitting In, and Social Pressure
Religion
Family Conflict
Summary
Analysis
Mom takes Margaret to Lincoln Center twice with Grandma’s subscription. Going with Mom isn’t as much fun, since Margaret doesn’t get to ride the bus alone—and Mom insists that the music is more important than watching people. So Margaret writes Grandma a letter telling her that everything is fine; she’s only gotten sick a couple times. She thinks she got sick once because it was slushy at the Lincoln Center and Mom wouldn’t let Margaret take her boots off during the concert like Grandma does. She does note that snow is more fun in New Jersey than New York—it’s cleaner.
Margaret articulates some of the reasons that she and Grandma have such a good relationship. Grandma lets her do fun things, like take her boots off and focus on people instead of the music, which Mom won’t stand for. So Margaret finds herself a little bit at odds with Mom, even as she’s getting closer to Grandma. However, admitting that the snow is better in New Jersey also aligns Margaret with Mom and her choice to move to New Jersey.
Themes
Grandma responds that she hopes Mom took Margaret to a good doctor—if she were at home, she would’ve tried to get recommendations for doctors in New Jersey. She agrees that Margaret got sick because Mom didn’t let her take her boots off. She also shares that she met a man named Mr. Binamin. They eat dinner together and see shows. He’s a widower with five married children. Mr. Binamin and his children think he should marry again—but Grandma is staying quiet on that front. Grandma also invites Margaret to come visit Florida during her spring vacation.
Grandma’s return letter offers more insight into why she has a strained relationship with Mom and Dad. Hoping that Mom took Margaret to a “good” doctor calls Mom’s choices into question and makes Grandma the supposed expert on Margaret and her medical care—something that Mom and Dad wouldn’t appreciate.
Themes
Margaret writes back that Mom and Dad will let her visit, but they’re waiting to make concrete plans. Margaret is excited, since Florida sounds fun and she wants to meet Mr. Binamin. She says she’s fine; the snow is melting and Mom is painting a new picture of apricots. She adds that Gretchen and Nancy got their periods.
To their credit, Mom and Dad seem unwilling to get in the way of Margaret’s relationship with Grandma—a big reason that Margaret doesn’t grasp the strain between the adults. They don’t want to encourage Margaret to have problems with her, too.
Themes
