Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Monday’s Not Coming, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Child Abuse
Family, Community, and Responsibility
Growing Up, Independence, and Friendship
Secrecy and Shame
Poverty, Social Support, and Desperation
Memory, Repression, and Trauma
Summary
Analysis
Ma scrubs the house all morning. When Claudia hears the doorbell ring, she comes downstairs. She stops short when she sees Detective Carson in the doorway with a woman. The detective’s mouth drops open when he sees Claudia. The woman introduces herself to Ma as Detective Woods and introduces Carson. Ma introduces herself, Daddy, and Claudia, and Carson acts like he’s never met Claudia. Claudia, angry, takes a seat next to Ma.
Seeing Claudia here impresses upon Detective Carson that he should’ve taken Claudia seriously months ago, when she came to the police station asking for help. Now, he has to confront the fact that, because of the dismissive way he treated Claudia, it took the police many more months than it should’ve to unravel the mystery of Monday’s disappearance.
Themes
Woods pulls out some files and explains that Mrs. Charles is denying everything except for August’s death—she insists Monday ran away and has no idea how Monday ended up in the freezer. Pointedly, Claudia says she wonders why Mrs. Charles didn’t file a police report. Carson offers Claudia his condolences and asks if they can talk. Claudia wants to scream, but she knows he’ll have to live with his guilt for the rest of his life.
Claudia points out here how unhelpful it is that the police only accept missing persons reports from parents. As she implies, Mrs. Charles was never going to file a police report—it would’ve eventually led back to her. Other kids whose parents are abusive are at risk because of this policy.
Themes
Woods and Carson ask all sorts of questions about Monday. Finally, Carson asks Ma when she last saw Monday. Ma says that Monday stopped by a week after Claudia went to her grandmother’s and seemed frazzled. She was wearing a pair of tribal-print shorts that Ma had originally bought Claudia; Monday often wore Claudia’s clothes and it didn’t bother Ma. Woods pulls out a photo and slides it to Ma. Ma gasps and asks if Monday was wearing those shorts when she died. The detectives can’t say for sure.
When Ma assures the detectives that she was aware that Monday wore Claudia’s clothes regularly, it suggests that she was aware that Monday was being neglected at home. Not saying anything about sharing clothes meant that she was quietly able to help support Monday without making a huge fuss about it, or getting involved in other people’s “private family business.”
Themes
Carson asks Claudia if he can help them figure out where Monday’s journal might be; they found the key to it in Monday’s pocket. Claudia initially refuses, but Carson says that April suggested Claudia might have taken it when she was at the house a few weeks ago. Ma screams at Claudia for going to the Charles’s house and Claudia agrees to fetch the journal. Carson holds out a Ziploc bag. Claudia feels a fog lifting. The journal is the last of her best friend and the only way to know what Monday’s life was really like.
Monday’s journal represents the truth about Monday that Claudia never got to learn when Monday was alive. Letting it go means that Claudia will have to go on and accept that Monday’s life will forever be a mystery to her. For the detectives, though, the journal is how they’ll be able to retroactively identify some of the red flags that everyone missed while Monday was still alive.
Themes
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Claudia asks if Carson will give the journal back. He explains that it’s evidence. Trembling, Claudia says the journal is all she has, and Carson owes her. Daddy agrees that this isn’t fair and Claudia collapses into Daddy, sobbing. Ma joins them and cries. After a minute, Daddy says it’s time. Claudia drops the journal into the bag, feeling like she’s dropping her heart in there as well. When Carson asks if Claudia has anything else, she thinks of Flowers in the Attic. But she tells him she doesn’t have anything else.
Carson’s inability to return Monday’s journal shows that the police system can’t support people as they heal after trauma. So Claudia feels her only method of holding onto Monday is to not hand over Flowers in the Attic. Since Claudia resents Carson so much, she feels justified in keeping the book from him—and at this point, it can’t save Monday, anyway.
Themes
Claudia gets to school 40 minutes late. Ms. Clark gasps and her eyes fill with tears; Mr. Hill nervously asks Claudia how she is. Claudia asks for a late pass and then Mr. Hill walks her to class. He promises to talk to her teachers about her grades and finals. Claudia already regrets coming to school, and this feeling deepens throughout the day. Wherever she goes, she hears people whispering that they found her best friend in the freezer.
Having Claudia back at school forces the administration to confront how badly they failed to protect Monday. At this point, Claudia is struggling to get through the day and perform simple tasks like brushing her teeth. Seeing her in this state forces the school to see that by neglecting Monday, they inadvertently harmed their other students, too.
Themes
At lunch, Claudia tells herself she should go home. A broken light flickers above and she can hear it buzz. She can almost smell Monday’s dirty mattress and hear Mrs. Charles cackling. Suddenly, Trevor and Carl tap Claudia on the shoulder and grin at her. Trevor apologizes for Claudia’s “girlfriend” getting murdered. Though Claudia turns away, Trevor insists on getting her attention. Carl shouts at Claudia too. Claudia tries to ignore them, but she hears a loud buzzing in her ears. Trevor calls Claudia a “dumb bitch” and says she was stupid for not knowing Monday was dead.
Claudia is unable to ignore the disturbing fact that Monday’s body was in a freezer for months. The buzzing lights make it impossible for Claudia to move on—and her preoccupation with the buzzing also means that she’s incapable of responding to Trevor and Carl. Trevor and Carl’s bullying again stresses just how toxic bullying culture is at Claudia’s school. They blame her for something that wasn’t at all her fault—thereby contributing to Claudia’s trauma.
Themes
From the next table over, Shayla shouts at Trevor and Carl to stop. Carl cackles about thawing Monday’s body like a turkey as the buzzing in Claudia’s ears gets louder. Jacob steps over and shoves Carl. He shouts that it’s not funny; they all knew Monday and now she’s gone. “She’s gone” rings like a bell in Claudia’s head. In her and Monday’s secret language, Claudia says, “she isn’t dead,” and that they have to save her. She screams until Ms. Valente comes over and holds her. The nurse finally sedates Claudia. This is her last day at school.
When Shayla and Jacob stand up for Claudia and Monday, it offers hope that Monday’s death will lead them to rethink how they treat their classmates. But because Claudia is still so traumatized, she doesn’t process this. And it seems like this moment is the moment where Claudia starts to forget that Monday is dead, as it’s too painful for her to accept.
Themes
