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Chapter 23
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
On the plane, Liz explains to Mia and Cricket that when she became pregnant with Mia, she had thought she and Q were soulmates. And when Q came to Maine when Mia was four, he said that he had left his wife and wanted to start a new life with Mia and Liz. Liz says that a few months after that, she kicked Q out of their house when she found out he was addicted to alcohol and had been driving drunk with Mia in the car for the whole summer.
This passage provides important information that had previously been missing from the narrative, namely that Liz had kicked Q out of their house after she found out he had been driving drunk with Mia in the car. The reader hadn’t previously known that information because Mia didn’t know that information herself, and the sections detailing Q’s departure from Maine were told from Mia’s perspective.
Themes
Later, Liz says, she learned that Q had acted predatorily toward many other girls. Now she knows that Q is a horrible person. But, Liz adds, she is happy that Mia and Cricket are in her life, and she’s proud to be their mother. After that conversation, Mia feels like the bond between her and Liz has been restored because there are no more secrets between them.
Notably, Liz seems clear-eyed about how Q’s immorality impacted both her life and the lives of others. She does not, as Mia perhaps feared, try to defend Q or dismiss Mia’s concerns. Instead, she speaks with Mia honestly and listens to what Mia has to say. As a result of that forthright conversation, Mia feels like her relationship with Liz has been repaired.
Themes
