Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Beartown, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Community Breakdown and Inequality
Culture, Character, and Entitlement
Parents and Children
Loyalty and Belonging
Resistance and Courage
Summary
Analysis
Ana walks to school alone. She thinks about calling Maya, but she doesn’t. She feels like Maya abandoned her in the wilderness. She also feels jealous.
Ana doesn’t know what happened, and since her position in the social hierarchy has always been more tenuous than Maya’s, she feels especially betrayed by Maya’s abandoning her at the party.
Themes
Amat and Fatima are waiting at the bus stop. Tails drives by and offers them a ride to the rink. Fatima can see how proud Amat is. Later, at work, when she empties the club president’s trash, he stands up and shakes her hand.
Much as Lyt’s social status has been raised in the aftermath of the party, Fatima is received completely differently by those who ignored her before her son joined the junior team. It shows how precarious and superficial such social distinctions are.
Themes
Lyt finds it “dizzying” to be caught up in the attention Kevin receives as they walk into school together. Kevin goes into one of the school bathrooms, and Lyt doesn’t notice that this is unusual behavior for him. Kevin tears up the 100-kronor note and flushes it down the toilet without even turning on the light or looking in the mirror.
While Kevin might just want to destroy all evidence of what’s happened, his reluctance to look at himself in the mirror suggests that his conscience bothers him at least somewhat. Lyt, oblivious, just enjoys being in Kevin’s limelight.
Themes
Amat finds Zacharias by the lockers and realizes he should have called his friend over the weekend. Zach is clearly hurt; his dad has been bragging at work that Zach is friends with one of the hockey players. Before Amat can think of something to say, a bully knocks Zach’s hat off. Soon the bully and Zach are locked in a fight. Suddenly, Bobo appears and scares the bullies off.
There’s been a change in the dynamic between Amat and his best friend, too. Zach’s dad’s bragging would be especially painful to Zach, given that he’s not as strong a player and would probably never garner such praise himself. Zach’s fight ends much differently than his previous encounter with a bully, with Bobo swooping in.
Themes
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Bobo tells Amat that he’s “one of us now. No one touches us.” He invites Amat to sit with the team at lunch. Then Amat notices Zach heading for the exit. He asks why Zach is upset, since Bobo helped him. Zach says, “No, he helped you. […] Your new team is waiting for you.”
Because Amat is one of the team now, Zach benefits from the team’s status by association. But this is like salt in the wound for Zach. Bobo bullied him just days before, but now, because of a sudden change in Amat’s fortunes, he’s arbitrarily worthy of Bobo’s protection, and he feels he’s lost Amat on top of it all. Zach’s pain here shows how even when hockey culture brings outward benefits (like protection from bullies), it can still cause harm at the same time.
Themes
Benji is startled to see Kevin exiting a school bathroom. He and Kevin have always understood each other, and Benji has never been without his team. As he watches Kevin walk off with Lyt and the others, he realizes he’s about to learn what that’s like. Instead of joining them in class, he lights a cigarette, gets on his bike, and leaves school. While taking attendance, Jeannette sees him out the window and marks Benji as present anyway.
Unlike Lyt, Benji knows that Kevin normally avoids using the school bathrooms. This seemingly minor detail makes the estrangement between Kevin and Benji all the more pointed. Benji takes this hard and decides he doesn’t want to endure school without his team surrounding him, revealing what a protective presence the team has been for him so far.
Themes
