Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Such a Fun Age, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
External Behavior vs. Internal Truth
White Guilt, Ignorance, and Redemption
The Quest for Meaning
Race, Class, and Privilege
Summary
Analysis
Laney is the first person to arrive at the Chamberlains’ house that morning. Alix asks her if she did the right thing. Laney assures her she has; she recalls how a high school coach assaulted a student on the soccer team. When the other students found out, they offered to report the assault, but the girl—her name was Mona, or maybe Monica—told them not to. Laney is sure that Monica would go back and change things, if she could.
The narrative backtracks to the moment that Laney Thacker arrives at the Chamberlain residence early Monday morning. This sequence of chapters, which go backward and forward in time, and replay the same condensed sequence of events from different perspectives, mirrors the dramatic Thanksgiving scene earlier in the novel. This narrative strategy builds tension and foreshadows the climactic interview scene that lies ahead. Also important in this scene is Laney’s recollection of Mona-or-Monica from her high school days. Laney references Monica’s story to show Alix that she was right to leak Emira’s Market Depot footage to the press—but all Laney’s story really does is show how wrong Alix was. In reality, for both Laney and Alix, the women they purport to want to save—Mona/Monica and Emira, respectively—are only incidental pawns they use to craft a narrative where they are saviors. The fact that Laney can’t even remember Mona/Monica’s name, and the fact that Alix continually disregards Emira’s needs and wants and betrays her trust, is evidence of this.
Themes
Alix feels marginally reassured, but she still wants to receive Tamra’s “better confirmation” later. Still, she’s grateful for Laney. Alix reflects how three days ago, Laney had discreetly forwarded the video to a source that posted it online. And Laney also told her that the interview would benefit everyone: Peter’s offensive remark would be forgotten, Emira can clear her name, and Alix can use the opportunity to plug her upcoming book. Alix will have to come clean to the world that she lives in Philadelphia now, but she’s considering it “a secret penance” for emerging from the Kelley mess “unscathed.”
That Alix needs Tamra’s reassurance in addition to Laney’s reinforces how much Alix relies on others’ perceptions of her to feel fulfilled and validated. Laney’s remark about everyone benefiting from the leaked footage and resultant interview also shows the ulterior motives behind Alix’s actions. Laney makes it clear that she, Alix, and everyone else involved have their own best interests at heart—even as they claim to want to help Emira. Furthermore, that Alix sees having to admit publicly that she lives in Philadelphia as “a secret penance” for betraying Emira is almost comical. The consequences that Alix suffers from her immoral actions are inconsequential compared to the trauma and humiliation that Emira has suffered.
Themes
Everyone walks into the living room. Alix watches Zara and Emira share “a precious exchange.” Alix and Emira sit next to each other on the couch. Laney sits on a chair across from them. She reminds them to keep their answers short and their eyes open. Laney snaps at Briar to pay attention, and Briar looks up, scared, as though Laney has just screamed at her. Then the WNFT Morning News live broadcast begins.
Alix’s description of Zara and Emira’s eye contact as “a precious exchange” is rather patronizing. It shows how little respect Alix has for Emira. She has long spoken of wanting Emira to be like a friend or family member to her, yet she continuously belittles and infantilizes her.
Themes
At the station, Peter and his coworker Misty introduce and summarize the Market Depot incident. Peter explains how the incident has impacted his family—Emira included. He expresses his and his wife’s hopes that talking about this incident now will “put the matter to bed” once and for all. As Laney’s prerecorded voiceover describes how everything began when somebody threw a “rock” through the Chamberlains’ window (Laney thought a rock would play better with viewers than an egg), Alix considers how silly it seems, in retrospect, that she’d spent months agonizing over what would happen if Emira figured out the real reason that kids had thrown the egg. She’s relieved as she thinks that all this will soon be over.
Like Alix, Peter’s wording manages to make the Market Depot incident about his family and their reputation. He accounts for the impact the incident has had on Emira, too, but he disproportionately makes it about himself. Further adding the segment’s portrayal of the Chamberlains as victims is the white lie of claiming that the egg that was thrown at the Chamberlains’ window was in fact a rock. It’s a small lie, but it recasts the situation to suggest that the Chamberlains were more victimized than they really were.
Themes
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Laney’s prerecorded introduction ends, and the live interview begins. At first, everything happens the way they’ve rehearsed. Laney addresses Alix first. Alix talks about being new to Philadelphia and unfamiliar with the neighborhood. Laney asks Emira to describe the evening. Emira does. When she describes how the guard didn’t think she looked like a babysitter, Alix interjects to clarify that Emira had come from a party and was dressed for that. Emira smiles at Alix and Laney before she explains that, usually, she wears “a babysitting uniform.” Inwardly, Alix starts to panic, but she tries to tell herself that Emira is only speaking “figuratively.”
Emira’s mention of her “babysitting uniform” is the first sign to Alix that something is off—that this interview won’t go as planned. This is because Kelley was the last person to describe the uniform as problematic. So when Emira implicitly describes the LetHer Speak polo in this way, it signifies to Alix that Emira’s allegiances are with Kelley and not with Alix.
Themes
When Laney asks Emira if she thinks the security guard needs to lose his job in order for justice to be served, Emira says no; she’s less mad at the guard than she is at the person who leaked her video—that person obviously doesn’t understand consent or care about Emira. Alix’s smile strains—does Emira know that she leaked the video? She decides this is impossible; and besides, it’s more important that she broke up Emira and Kelley before Kelley has the opportunity to hurt Emira in a bigger way.
Emira’s comment about the LetHer Speak polo was suspicious to Alix, but it didn’t totally prove that Emira knows she leaked the video footage. Emira’s condemnation of the person who leaked her video and betrayed her trust, though, is more on the nose, and Alix is starting to realize—even as she tries desperately to ignore her gut feeling—that Emira knows what Alix did and isn’t happy about it. If Alix had thought she could get away with betraying Emira, that illusion is now starting to crumble.
Themes
As the interview winds down, Laney turns to Alix and observes how “Emira embodies much of the spirit of LetHer Speak.” Then Laney mentions how Emira will be around more often next year, as Alix continues work on her first book. Alix laughs and confirms that Emira will be working for them full-time. Though Laney’s plug was a little more explicit than she’d thought it would be, she feels validated by it.
When Laney plugs Alix’s book, Alix immediately forgets about her fear that Emira is on to her. She’s so validated by public recognition of her professional success and book deal that she ignores everything else. As the novel has made gradually more certain, the person Alix most wants to help is herself—not Emira.
Themes
Finally, Laney turns to Emira and asks if she has any advice for caretakers who find themselves in a similar position. Inwardly, Emira reviews the lines they’d rehearsed earlier—generic advice for others “to stick up for themselves, to hold their ground.” Emira pauses. Then she tells Laney that not only does she not have any advice, but she won’t actually be working for the Chamberlains anymore. Alix is suddenly alert—but she reassures herself that Emira must just be confused. But Emira continues, explaining that the leaked video has “put some things in perspective.” As a result, she’s opted to work full-time for the Green Party Philadelphia instead.
Alix’s self-delusion becomes abundantly clear in this scene. Even as Emira explicitly states that she’s not going to be working for the Chamberlains anymore, Alix tries to convince herself that Emira has misspoken—that Emira doesn’t know what she’s saying. As she has done repeatedly throughout the noel, Alix reconfigures uncomfortable or unwanted situations to fit a narrative that she can accept.
Themes
Alix is so shocked that she laughs. She attempts to correct Emira, but Emira doesn’t back down. Then she looks Alix in the eyes and says, “I just think it would be best if we went our separate ways and…that those paths never like…came back together.” Alix suddenly feels like she’s having an out-of-body experience. She feels like Alex Murphy again as she realizes that Kelley and Emira have been ridiculing her behind her back. Alix sees Tamra gasp in the background. Then Emira gets up and leaves. Briar follows her, crying out, “Mira, way fo’ me!” Emira gives Zara the signal, and Zara runs in front of the camera and says, “Homegirl is out, okay?! She ain’t need this!” Zara continues to make a scene, and Laney urgently signals for the cameraman to cut.
So far, Alix has been able to convince herself that Emira is confused and doesn’t know what she’s saying. But once Emira repeats Kelley’s brutal breakup lines, there’s no more denying reality. Hearing these recycled words propels Alix back to her past and shows her that despite her efforts to reinvent and reform herself—to create a new and improved persona that allows her to repent for the mistakes and humiliations of her past—she is still herself, and no superficial transformations will change that.
Themes
