Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Son of a Trickster, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dysfunctional Families, Responsibility, and Maturity
Love vs. Violence
Escapism and Confronting Problems
The Environment and Human Destruction
Summary
Analysis
Back at Jared’s house, the place is sparkling clean. Jared looks for his mom, who is sitting on her bed, plucking her eyebrows into a thin line. He warns her that if she keeps plucking, she’ll pull her skin out, but his mom says that she’s itchy and can feel things crawling in her hair. Jared asks her what she’s on, and when he reaches to take the tweezers from her, she stabs at his hand so hard that she breaks his skin. Then, she returns to plucking. Jared sits with her until he can’t watch anymore, and then he goes out for a walk. Sitting on a bench, Jared listens to his heartbeat and to the blood coursing in his body.
Here, Jared’s mom continues to use drugs to cope with her ongoing problems—but as a result, she creates even further harm by lashing out at Jared when he tries to help her. This again shows how violence undermines loving relationships rather than supporting them. Even though Jared’s mom uses violence to protect him, this is another example of how that violence can quickly turn on him instead.
Themes
