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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Spectacular Things, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sacrifice and Love
Dreams, Ambition, and Meaning
Love and Loss
Competition vs. Teamwork
Community
Summary
Analysis
After Liz picks up Mia from nursery school, she explains that the man’s name is Q, for Quimby, and that he is Mia’s father. Liz also says that she isn’t sure how long Q will stay. Over the coming weeks, though, Q makes Liz happy in a way that Mia has never seen before, and it’s clear that Q will be staying for a while. Q tells Mia that life is a “running joke” and advises her not to lose her sense of humor. One night, Q cooks ribs that are the best ribs Mia has ever had. When Mia goes to bed, Q says that he loves her. The next morning, when Mia wakes up, she can’t find Q or Liz.
This passage is notably told from a limited third-person point of view that hews closely to Mia’s perspective. That point of view means that the reader only has access to what Mia thinks and sees and doesn’t have access to Liz and Q’s perspectives. In this passage, the novel uses a third-person limited point of view to create dramatic tension in which the reader remains unaware of where Q and Liz might be, just as Mia is.
Themes
