Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Is How It Always Is, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender and Binaries
Secrets and Misunderstanding
Violence and Discrimination
Storytelling
Family
Summary
Analysis
The kindergarten kids don’t pay much attention to Claude, but the older kids do, and they aren’t always nice about it. “Your gay little brother is so gay,” an older boy says to Orion and Rigel. Recess grows increasingly difficult for Claude, and since it is cold outside anyway, he starts spending recess alone in the library. He doesn’t mind eating lunch alone in the bathroom, but the nurse catches him and makes him stop, so he starts using the boys’ bathroom again.
The older kids’ comments again underscore the abuse the LGBTQ community faces. Claude is different, so they pick on him. Like Claude’s brothers, the kids on the playground assume that just because Claude is likely transgender he is also “gay.” Sexuality never comes into Claude’s feelings about his gender, which again suggests that gender and sexuality are distinct and separate.
Themes
One day, Miss Appleton stops Claude and asks him if he has been using the boys’ bathroom. Claude says that he has, and Miss Appleton asks him why. “Because I’m a boy?” he answers. Miss Appleton draws in a deep breath. If he is boy, she asks, why is he wearing a dress? He likes to wear dresses, Claude says, but Miss Appleton says little boys don’t wear dresses. If Claude is a little boy, she says, he can’t wear dresses; and if he is a little girl, he must use the nurse’s bathroom. Claude asks why he wouldn’t use the girls’ bathroom, and Miss Appleton, clearly irritated, says he isn’t a girl.
Like Penn and Rosie do earlier, Claude answers Miss Appleton’s question with a question because he isn’t exactly sure what gender he is, and Miss Appleton badgering him and embarrassing him over the bathroom doesn’t help. This treatment, too, reflects the abuse of the LGBTQ community. Claude’s gender isn’t for Miss Appleton to define, and she can’t force him to use a separate bathroom, which only serves to further alienate him.
Themes
Victoria Revels calls Penn at home that night. The school is happy to accommodate Claude’s needs if he has gender dysphoria, but if he just wants to wear a dress, then he is “being disruptive and must wear normal clothes.” It is confusing for Miss Appleton and the other children, Ms. Revels says. They aren’t sure if Claude is a girl or a boy, and they don’t know what to do with him. For instance, does he line up with the boys or the girls? Why does he keep his hair short, and why hasn’t he changed his name? Penn doesn’t understand. Girls have short hair and wear pants all the time. Yes, she says, but Claude will have to pick a gender and stick to it.
Again, Victoria Revels and the school are forcing Claude to embody gender ideals they are comfortable with because it is easier for them if Claude conforms to the accepted gender norms. Ms. Revels says that Claude must wear “normal clothes,” which is to say that Claude isn’t normal in the first place. Claude is not being “disruptive,” he is expressing his gender identity. What line Claude stands in and how long his hair is doesn’t matter.
Themes
The problem, Penn tells Victoria Revels, is that they aren’t sure what gender Claude is. He might be “gender variant” or “genderqueer,” Penn explains, but Ms. Revels cuts him off. Claude can’t be any of those things in kindergarten, she says. Kindergarten is no place for “ambiguity.” For now, Ms. Revels says, Claude “needs to…pardon me, but he needs to move his bowels or get off the pot.” Sure, Penn says, as long as he does it in the nurse’s office. “In the nurse’s office,” Ms. Revels confirms.
Gender variant refers to someone who doesn’t conform to dominate gender norms, and genderqueer refers to someone who might not conform to traditional gender norms at all and might not identify as either male or female. Penn clearly believes that gender is not a binary choice between male and female, but Ms. Revels so crudely implies that Claude must choose one. Ms. Revels is still concerned with the bathroom, which prove she understands nothing about what Claude is going through.
Themes
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Penn wants to call Dwight Harmon and give him hell, but he doesn’t. Rosie is convinced it is only a big deal if they make one, so they don’t. At dinner, Claude tells them all he is changing his name to “the cocoa channel.” Penn looks at Rosie, confused. It is a television station, Claude explains, with nothing but chocolate. Penn decides he must mean Coco Chanel, but he tells him that he can just be Claude. Claude knows that, but he wants to change his name. The boys immediately pipe up. If Claude is changing his name, Orion says, he is, too. Rosie stops the. No one is changing any name she gave them, she says. If Claude wants a new name, he can be Claudia. Otherwise, everyone is keeping their name.
Frankel implies that the school’s response to Claude is a big deal. The school has no right to insist Claude make crucial decisions about his gender identity that he might not be ready to make or comfortable doing. Claude never considered changing his name until the school insisted he do so, and his choice of name “the cocoa channel” has to do with chocolate, not gender. The school’s treatment of Claude is further evidence of the discrimination the LGBTQ community faces.
Themes
That night, Claude goes to Penn and Rosie’s room. He has decided on his new name, he says, and he wants it to be Poppy. Claude says that Camry told him that Jewish people name their kids after dead people they love, so he is going with Poppy. He asks Rosie if she thinks it is a good name, and she says it is perfect.
Although Claude is bullied into changing his name, his choice seems meant to be. Rosie always wanted a daughter named Poppy, and Penn knew that he would have one, and now they do—just not quite in the way they thought they would.
Themes
