Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The 57 Bus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender and Sexuality
Adolescent Crime vs. Adult Crime
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language
Discrimination and Social Justice
Accountability, Redemption, and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
While Sasha is in the hospital, people from all over the world send them get-well cards, flowers, and small gifts. Sasha’s cousin even sets up a medical fund online, and it collects over $30,000 in mere days. “Get well,” the cards say. “Stay strong. Be proud. You are beautiful the way you are.” Sasha appreciates the sentiment, but they can’t “concentrate” on any of it. They keep only cards from friends and a bouquet of silk flowers from a stranger. Debbie and Karl take the rest home.
The many gifts that Sasha receives in the hospital suggests that most people support Sasha’s identity and and their right to exist despite the hate and discrimination of a few. This implies that justice for the LGBTQ is possible, and perhaps even likely.
Themes
At home, Debbie checks the online news sites for coverage of Sasha’s case, and she comes across a neo-Nazi site. “They are having a really hard time,” Debbie says. “An African American? Oh, evil! But then it’s this trans kid wearing a skirt. What?” Karl smiles. “They can’t figure out who to root against,” he says.
The neo-Nazis can’t figure out who to root against because they equally hate African Americans and the LGBTQ community. These neo-Nazis are the picture of true hate and homophobia, not Richard.
Themes
