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Chapter 22
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
In 2019, Liz, Mia, and Cricket travel on a whirlwind trip to Paris to see the U.S. team play France in the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup. They stay in a hostel that seemed to be the last available room in the city. They cheer uproariously when the U.S. beats France 2-1, knocking France out of the tournament and advancing the U.S. to the semifinals. Afterward, they board a plane back to the U.S. On the plane, Liz asks Mia about her boyfriend, Ben, and about whether their relationship is serious.
This passage again illustrates the pivotal role that soccer plays in Mia, Liz, and Cricket’s lives. While Mia has felt, in some ways, like she’s on the outside of her family looking in because of her experiences in college and what she knows about Liz’s relationship with Q and Q’s history of sexual misconduct, soccer still provides a way to bring the family back together.
Themes
As the plane ride continues, Mia realizes that she feels like a chasm has opened up between her and her mother because she knows that Q was Liz’s coach, but she hasn’t talked to Liz about it. Mia then tells Liz what she found out online the past fall and says that Q is a predator. At first, Liz is surprised and doesn’t know how to react. She then asks Mia what she wants to know.
Notably, as a result of the trip to see the 2019 Women’s World Cup, Mia finds a way to ask Liz about Q. That again points to the role that soccer plays in bringing Liz, Mia, and Cricket together, as it gives Mia a chance to try and broach the difficult topic and perhaps resolve what has been bothering her since she found out about Q’s sexual misconduct.
Themes
