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Chapter 17
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Counting by 7s, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Independent Thinking
Bureaucracy
Grief and Survival
Chosen Family
Summary
Analysis
Mai lies to the police, saying she’s known Willow for many years, in order to get them to let Willow come home with her. Part of Dell knows this isn’t true, but Mai says it in a very convincing way. As Dell takes everyone to the nail salon that Pattie owns, he realizes that with all the investigations after the crash, he could get in trouble for the ice cream trip. Mai and Quang-ha leave the car, and Dell is alone with Willow. He tries to cheer her up by saying at least now she’s probably already experienced the worst loss of her life, but he immediately regrets it.
As Mai’s actions show, sometimes when a system is broken, it’s better to bend the rules or even outright lie. Mai realizes that even though the bureaucracy doesn’t want to take responsibility for Willow, Mai can do something herself. Meanwhile, Dell shows the opposite attitude, selfishly looking out for himself in Willow’s moment of need. Still, this passage implies that Dell isn’t entirely to blame—the school bureaucracy that he’s part of discourages him from going beyond the basic role of his job.
Active
Themes
