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
The next morning, Jared knocks on the Jakses’ door. Dawn and Mrs. Jaks tell him that Sarah cut herself while she was high on magic mushrooms, but she’ll be okay. Jared helps them clean the blood off the kitchen floor and table. After they clean, Jared makes chicken soup for the Jakses. They all spend the rest of the day staring at the TV, stunned.
Here, Jared more fully recognizes the consequences of walking out on Sarah, as avoiding his problems has only caused more harm to her. In addition, Sarah’s attempts to use drugs to solve her inability to connect with magic also ended up hurting more than helping her. Thus, both Jared and Sarah learn that trying to avoid problems through escapism only puts a person further out of control.
Themes
Jared’s mom gets him out of finals by faking a family death, and Jared gets Dylan to take him back to school as the term winds down. When kids go quiet as Jared approaches, he knows they found out about Sarah. Jared goes to his locker and realizes that at some point, Sarah hot-glued flies with painted yellow butts to his locker, which looks crazy. He empties his locker as quickly as possible and then returns to the truck with Dylan. Dylan tries to comfort Jared by saying he also had a girl try to kill herself for his attention, telling him that feeling guilty won’t do Sarah any good. Before dropping Jared off, Dylan offers to let him stay at his house any time.
As Jared returns to school for the first time since the otter incident, the book reminds readers that Jared has experienced a tremendous amount of loss in the past few days. The complexity of his relationships his mom, Nana Sophia, Wee’git, the magical world, and now Sarah provides him with a maturity that drastically outpaces his peers. This revisits the idea that teenagers who grow up with a dysfunctional family dynamic tend to have far greater burdens than those who do not.
Themes
That night, Jared’s mom brings in a TV dinner to Jared’s bedroom. She asks how the “nut job” is, and Jared asks his mom to not call Sarah names. But he realizes that his mom is trying to be nice in her own way, and he thanks her for dinner. Jared’s mom says that the dinner wasn’t even on sale, which Jared confirms is real love. Jared’s mom grabs him in a headlock, saying, “I fucking love you, you sarcastic little shit,” and Jared shouts “Hallmark!” in response.
This passage, which hearkens back to Jared’s earlier sarcastic remark that his mom should write Hallmark cards, demonstrates that there is real love underlying Jared and his mom’s relationship. But because it’s mixed with the potential for violence, like his mom cursing at him and grabbing him in a headlock, it still isn’t as healthy or uncomplicated as a relationship based solely in love.
Themes
The next day, Jared knocks on the Jakses’ door, and a trim, dark-haired woman answers—Jared figures that this is Sarah’s mom. When Jared asks for Sarah, her mom says that she’s resting, and that Sarah needs some space. She asks if Jared gave Sarah the drugs; when Jared says no, she comments critically that Jared didn’t stop Sarah from doing drugs. Jared accuses Sarah’s mom of blaming him for what happened, and he points out that she sent her daughter to take care of her dying parents, and that Sarah broke under the pressure. Sarah’s mom asks him to leave, shutting and locking the door behind him.
Although Sarah’s mother is blaming Jared for what happened to her daughter, Jared points out that she shirked her responsibilities, both in taking care of Sarah and in taking care of Mr. and Mrs. Jaks. As a result, Sarah had to take on that responsibility, again illustrating how adults who don’t fulfill their parental responsibility often end up passing that responsibility onto their children.
Themes
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When Jared walks back into his house, his mom is yelling at the phone, daring Sarah’s mom to call the cops and saying that if Sarah’s mom were her mom, she would try to kill herself too. Jared’s mom starts to tear up, touched that Jared is starting to grow a backbone—unlike his dad, she adds. She says that she’s proud of Jared, and he jokes they can hold up a liquor store for the family bonding.
This passage provides more insight into Jared’s relationship with his mom: her affection is often contingent on Jared being tough or even violent, as he points out. This is what makes their relationship so emotionally painful at times, because Jared tends to be uncomfortable with aggression.
Themes
Later, Dylan invites Jared to Gruchy’s Beach, where 50 drunken teenagers are partying. Jared watches the fire on the beach, feeling lonely. He texts Crashpad, and they make plans to watch The Walking Dead the next day. At that moment, Ebony comes over. She apologizes for the video, but Jared thanks her for making him more popular. Ebony asks if Jared is still baking, but Jared says they probably shouldn’t go into business together. When Ebony asks if he wants to leave, Jared goes over and asks Dylan if it’s all right if he goes off with Ebony. Dylan just shrugs. Ebony drives Jared back to his house, and they stand outside talking about their respective years in school.
This moment illustrates how Jared has become even more mature than his peers due to the hardship he’s experienced. His feelings of loneliness in a group of 50 teenagers suggests that he doesn’t feel like he can relate to their comparatively fun, carefree lives anymore. Meanwhile, the image of Jared watching the fire on the beach recalls the same image when the fireflies saw his memories. This suggests that Jared does have some magical knowledge of different times and places—both the past and the future.
Themes
Just then, Sarah walks over in her Leia outfit. She tells Ebony that Jared isn’t going to have sex with her, so she should find someone else. Ebony replies by telling Sarah to try not to kill herself with her grandparents watching. They trade more barbs until Jared tries to calm them down, thanking Ebony for the ride. At that moment, Sarah’s mom creeps down the street in her car to come pick Sarah up—until Jared’s mom appears on the porch with a paintball gun, firing off a round at Sarah’s mom’s car. Jared calls at her to stop.
Jared has to yell at his mom not to shoot Sarah’s mom’s car with a paintball gun. This reversal of the typical parent-child dynamic shows how he still has to be the responsible one out of the two of them.
Themes
As Jared turns back to Sarah, she tells him that she loves him, but Jared says that he can’t do this anymore—she almost died, and he had to clean up her blood. Sarah says that the sex they had together was like being alive for the first time. When she asks if Jared can still see her fireflies, Jared just tells her to let it go.
Although Sarah is more willing to say that she loves Jared, Jared struggles to return her love. This is because he has a difficult time dealing with the violence in their relationship—not violence toward him, but the violence Sarah inflicts on herself, which is confusing and painful for Jared. Additionally, Jared is still trying to avoid the magic in their lives, but this alienates him from Sarah. This once again suggests that avoiding one’s problems only causes more pain.
Themes
Back inside, Jared’s mom comments that Sarah is growing on her, but Jared says that that means little considering that Sarah is off to rehab in the morning. Jared’s mom then suggests they run through some protection spells, but Jared says that he’s done with magic. Jared’s mom replies that he may be done with magic, but magic isn’t done with him.
Here, Jared’s mom makes the point that Jared’s avoidance of magic doesn’t guarantee that magic won’t interfere with his life. In a way, in trying to avoid magic, Jared only spirals further out of control. Instead, the only way to regain control over his life is to address problems directly.
Themes
Early in the morning, Jared wakes and goes to the window, where he sees Sarah and her fireflies looking up at him from the sidewalk. He waves, and she waves back. They watch each other until Sarah’s mother drives up, and Sarah gets into the car and drives away. That night, Jared drinks a lot, and he finds himself crying in Mr. Jaks’s lap in the Jakses’ kitchen. Mr. Jaks strokes him soothingly, and Jared wipes his nose and apologizes.
Even though Jared believes that breaking things off with Sarah and avoiding the magic that surrounds her will protect him, in reality, avoiding the magic in his life has only added to his pain. In turn, Jared tries to escape from that pain using alcohol, but the book illustrates that this reliance on escapism doesn’t actually solve Jared’s problems—it only hurts him more.
Themes
Jared begs the Jakses not to leave, and Mrs. Jaks tells Jared that they’ve all had a hard year. Mrs. Jaks says that she’s not afraid of dying, but she’s worried about Mr. Jaks being alone; she wishes that life were fairer. Jared tells her he's going to miss her. Mrs. Jaks says that she knows everything hurts, but that Jared shouldn’t drink his life away—he’s a good boy, and she wishes good things for him.
Mrs. Jaks’s advice that Jared shouldn’t drink his life away gets at the heart of Jared’s problem with alcohol: too often, he uses it as a form of escapism. Her warning suggests that using alcohol in this way will only diminish the amount of control a person has over their life.
Themes
