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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Breaking Night, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Willpower and Independence
Poverty
Drugs and Addiction
Family
Sex and Power
Summary
Analysis
By the time Liz turns twelve, she and the rest of her family have learned to live “on entirely different continents … detached and floating so independently from one another that I worried we might never come together again.” Liz spends most of her time pumping gas or hanging out with her friends.
Liz continues to be strong and independent, but her independence comes at a price: she spends barely any time with her family, and, furthermore, doesn’t seem to miss them much.
Themes
Ma begins spending more time with a man named Leonard Mohn. He and Ma pop pills, which Leonard procures with the money Ma and Daddy give him. Liz despises Leonard, and Leonard seems to hate her in return. Once, Liz overhears Leonard telling Ma, “The good years are all gone before forty anyway,” to which Ma tearfully replies, “I know […] We’ll never be old.” After Leonard enters the picture, Ma begins getting high more often, to the point where her entire body becomes covered in needle marks.
The passage suggests that Ma, recognizing that she’s going to die soon, begins using drugs even more often than she did before her diagnosis: she thinks AIDS gives her license to “live life to the fullest,” which, in her mind, means ingesting lots of cocaine.
Themes
Liz barely goes to school. But she reads Daddy’s books, and is smart enough to pass her year-end exams without going to class. More often she spends her weekdays hanging out with Rick and Danny, riding the subway across New York.
Themes
One day, the truancy officer, Ms. Cole, visits Liz’s home and asks her why she hasn’t been going to school. Liz is confused: she wonders why Ms. Cole doesn’t ask Liz parents some other questions—why there’s no food in the house, why Ma is on drugs, etc. The officer tells Liz that if she doesn’t start attending school, she’ll have to go to another home—a harsh, lonely place.
Themes
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That night, Leonard Mohn comes by and he and Ma stay up late, getting high and talking. Liz overhears Ma talking about a man named Brick who she is sleeping with. Leonard encourages Ma to spend time with this other man, saying, “You deserve better.” Liz is furious: Leonard smiles in Daddy’s face and yet behind his back tells Ma to find someone better. In the two years since Ma was diagnosed with AIDS, things haven’t been the same between Liz and Ma: Liz finds it harder to love her.
Themes
A month later, Ma takes Liz to meet Brick. Brick is a former officer in the Navy, Ma claims, and he works in a “fancy Manhattan art gallery.” Brick turns out to be a big, bald, quiet man. He’s clearly attracted to Ma, and Liz doesn’t trust him—she’s always suspicious of strange men, since they remind her of Ron.
Themes
Ma and Liz spend the day with Brick. From time to time, Brick goes into an alleyway to drink from a large bottle of beer. Ma explains that Brick needs the beer to calm his nerves. Liz sees Ma running her hands over Brick, and realizes that in her entire life, she’s only seen Ma and Daddy kiss twice.
Themes
After saying goodbye to Brick, Liz tells Ma that she doesn’t want to see Brick anymore. Ma hesitates and then tells Liz that she’s been trying to get off drugs. Liz wonders if Ma is “serious this time.” She tells Ma not to bring drugs into the house, adding, “It’s simple if you really want that.” Ma points out that Daddy will continue bringing drugs to the house, but adds that she’s thinking of leaving him for good. Liz protests that she doesn’t want to leave Daddy, and Ma replies that she’ll give Daddy a chance to get clean, adding that she hopes Daddy will stop using drugs one day. But secretly, both Liz and Ma know that Daddy will never stop using.
Themes
Liz passes the sixth grade and proceeds to junior high, much to her surprise. Liz’s family doesn’t attend her graduation. A few weeks later, Ma calls to tell Liz that she’s moving in with Brick, and that she wants Liz to come with her. Lisa goes with Ma, but Liz chooses to stay with Daddy.
Themes
Soon after starting junior high, Liz gets a call from Ma, explaining that she hasn’t been using cocaine and that she loves Brick’s apartment. Meanwhile, Liz’s life with Daddy is sad. Daddy doesn’t complain about Ma leaving, but he continues to use drugs every day. Liz finds an old photograph of her parents kissing—“the single greatest act of affection I had ever witnessed between my parents.”
Themes
Liz finds old photographs of her father from when he lived in San Francisco. In the photographs, he looks very serious and intelligent. She also finds old letters from her grandmother, informing Daddy that she’s wondering how long he’ll be in California. Finally, she finds a photograph of a little girl in a pink dress, with the name “Meredith” scrawled on the back. Liz is terrified by the idea that her father could abandon one of his own children. Liz finds one more photograph, which shows Daddy kissing a man—the name “Walter” is scrawled on the back. Liz begins to cry. She wonders if Daddy ever loved Ma, and if he gave Ma AIDS. In the following days, Liz begins avoiding Daddy whenever possible.
Shortly after Liz turns thirteen, Child Protective Services finally takes her into custody for her truancy. Daddy signs the papers turning Liz over to the state of New York. Authorities take Liz to a hospital, where doctors examine her. The doctors find bruises on Liz’s body, and ask her how she got them. Liz honestly explains that she got them while playing.
Themes
The authorities take Liz to a building called Saint Anne’s Residence, a “diagnostic residential center.” In reality, it’s a place where girls with a history of “behavior problems” are taken to be evaluated before they’re sent off to foster homes. Liz is miserable during her time at Saint Anne’s. On her first night, she experiences a searing pain in her abdomen, and the other girls laugh at her.
Themes
A doctor named Eva Morales meets with Liz and asks her about her life. Morales gives Liz condescending advice, saying, “Consistency brings progress.” Liz learns to act responsive and agreeable around Morales, knowing that if she plays along, she’ll be able to leave sooner.
Themes
Over the next week, Liz gets in trouble with Auntie, the woman who runs Saint Anne’s. The other girls blame Liz for putting bleach in a girl’s shampoo bottle—something Liz would never do—and Auntie punishes her by sending her to the “quiet room,” which is basically solitary confinement. Later, she’s moved to a room with Talesha, a fifteen-year-old girl who quickly opens up to Liz about her baby son. Late at night, Talesha cries in her sleep and tells Liz that she misses her child. When Talesha is fast asleep, Liz cries, too, and thinks that she misses her home and family.
Themes
Liz is discharged from Saint Anne’s in the spring. On her last day, she embraces Talesha, and they wish each other good luck. Liz is about to be taken to live with Ma, Lisa, and Brick, but she’s worried that this home will turn out to be “another place I didn’t want to be.”
Themes
