The 57 Bus

The 57 Bus

by

Dashka Slater

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The 57 Bus makes teaching easy.
Having a gender identity that does not align with “any gender.” Sasha is agender, and they do not identify as either male or female.

Agender Quotes in The 57 Bus

The The 57 Bus quotes below are all either spoken by Agender or refer to Agender. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Genderqueer Quotes

Most of us see gender and sexuality and romance as one big interconnected tangle of feelings—this is who I am, this is who I’m attracted to, this is who I love. But as Sasha began exploring the topic online, they found that some people had developed language for combing the tangle into individual strands. In these online conversations, the word sex referred purely to biology—the chromosomes, organs, and anatomy that define male and female from the outside. Gender was the word for what people felt about themselves, how they felt inside. Sexuality was the category for who you were physically attracted to. Romantic was the category for who you felt romantic attraction to. And there was a whole array of distinctions within each category as well. It was like a gigantic menu, with columns and columns of choices.

Related Characters: Sasha
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Becoming Sasha Quotes

Discovering the existence of genderqueer identity felt like discovering a secret room. All this time there had been just two rooms: male and female. Now it turned out there was another room—one that could be furnished however you wanted. The more time Sasha spent in the room, the more comfortable it felt. But the person who lived in this new room still had a boy’s name—Luke. By the second half of sophomore year, that name clearly no longer fit.

Related Characters: Sasha
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

“I don’t want for people to think of me as a he, and when they say he, not only does it reinforce in their brains that I am a he, it also reinforces in the brains of the people who are listening,” Sasha explains. “It doesn’t really directly affect me, at least to hear it—it’s more like, Huh, that’s not right. And when people use the right pronoun, it feels validating.”

Related Characters: Sasha (speaker)
Related Symbols: 1001 Blank White Cards
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Bathrooms Quotes

It was tough sometimes, watching Sasha navigate a world that didn’t even have a category for them. Occasionally, Debbie wished Sasha would ease up a little—resist correcting well-meaning relatives who said he instead of they, for example. But there was something admirable about it, too, Karl pointed out. Knowing how shy Sasha was, he admired Sasha’s newfound willingness to speak up, to stand out, to be seen.

Related Characters: Sasha, Debbie, Karl
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: A Man in a Kilt Quotes

“A passenger on an Oakland, Calif., public bus received burns to his legs after his kilt was set on fire,” UPI wrote. The word kilt seemed to have gotten lodged in the minds of reporters. It was in every report, as if Sasha had been on the way home from bagpipe practice. The Daily Mail, in the United Kingdom, even illustrated the report with a photo of a kilt, explaining a kilt is “the national dress of Scotland.”

Related Characters: Sasha
Related Symbols: Sasha’s Skirt
Page Number: 144
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: Dancing Quotes

“What I want is for people to be confused about what gender I am,” Sasha explained later. That didn’t happen too often—people tended to see Sasha as male. So it was a nice change to be seen as female.

Related Characters: Sasha (speaker)
Related Symbols: Sasha’s Skirt
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: Victim-Impact Statement Quotes

“We do not understand your actions,” Debbie went on. “But we also think that hatred only leads to more hatred and anger. We don’t want you to come out of prison full of hate. Following the incident, communities near and far affirmed Sasha’s—and everyone’s—right to not be harassed or hurt or bullied for how they dress, or whether they are gay or trans or agender. We truly hope that you will gain some understanding and empathy in the years to come. Maybe sometime in the future you will be the one coming to the aid of someone being bullied.”

Related Characters: Debbie (speaker), Sasha, Richard
Page Number: 264
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The 57 Bus LitChart as a printable PDF.
The 57 Bus PDF

Agender Term Timeline in The 57 Bus

The timeline below shows where the term Agender appears in The 57 Bus. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Discrimination and Social Justice Theme Icon
...sits alone at the back. Wearing a black fleece jacket and white skirt, Sasha is agender—“neither male nor female.” Sasha is reading a copy of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, but puts... (full context)
Part 1: Gender, Sex, Sexuality, Romance: Some Terms
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language Theme Icon
Agender” is not identifying as either male or female, while “androgynous” is a “third gender that... (full context)
Part 1: Sasha’s Terms
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language Theme Icon
Slater also includes a list of Sasha’s preferred terms. It reads: “Agender. / Gray-cupiosexual. / Quoiromantic / Also: Vegan.” (full context)
Part 1: The Petition
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language Theme Icon
Discrimination and Social Justice Theme Icon
...Sasha made an announcement to the school. “My name is Sasha and I identify as agender,” Sasha told their classmates. They also told the students that it is “important to respect... (full context)
Part 3: A Man in a Kilt
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language Theme Icon
...So, when a news reporter knocks on their door, she responds, “My son considers himself agender. He likes to wear a skirt. It’s his statement. That’s how he feels comfortable dressing.” (full context)
Part 3: Let’s All Take Care of Each Other
Adolescent Crime vs. Adult Crime Theme Icon
Discrimination and Social Justice Theme Icon
...fire, “but they are just that: assumptions.” Karl then goes on to fully explain Sasha’s agender status. “Different people dress or behave or look differently,” Karl says. “And that’s a GOOD... (full context)
Part 3: Does It Have to Be Me?
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Discrimination and Social Justice Theme Icon
...an interview on the news while wearing a skirt, and Sasha is excited that an agender person is on television, but they are sorry it must be them. Plus, Sasha says,... (full context)