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Chapter 56
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
Willow is still sleeping at Dell’s with the Nguyens. It’s the middle of the night, and she also has trouble staying asleep. The next day when she wakes up, she’s disoriented and realizes it’s the last day she’ll ever live next to her garden. She gets ready and eats breakfast in a daze. At last Lenore comes, and Willow has to say goodbye to everyone. She gets sad when she sees Cheddar in the window. Willow worries about how Quang-ha, Pattie, and Dell will all get along without her.
Willow’s garden represents all of her care and ingenuity—and her court case threatens to take all of this away from her. Like Willow’s school, the courts don’t treat people as individuals, and this means that people who think independently like Willow are especially at risk of getting lost in the system. Willow’s worries about the other people in her life show how she is selfless, but they also suggest that perhaps she is avoiding her own fears by focusing on others.
Active
Themes
