Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Walk Two Moons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Judgment, Perspective, and Storytelling
Parents, Children, and Growing Up
Grief
Nature
Summary
Analysis
According to Gramps, Sal is “a country girl at heart.” This is true: Sal has lived most of her life in Bybanks, Kentucky, a small town that sits along the Ohio River. About a year ago, Dad suddenly moved Sal and all their belongings (aside from Sal’s things, such as the chestnut tree, the hayloft, or the swimming hole) 300 miles north to Euclid, Ohio.
Given Gramps’s description of Sal as a “country girl,” and Sal noting that she couldn’t bring her chestnut tree or her swimming hole to Euclid with her, it’s clear that Sal values the natural world. Starting the book in this way immediately establishes humans’ connection to nature as a focal point of Sal’s story.
Themes
When Dad and Sal arrive in Euclid, they stop at a house that Dad says belongs to Margaret. All the houses on the street are close together, each with a tiny bit of grass. Sal wants to know where the barn and the river are, but Dad just sighs and ignores Sal—even when Sal says she has to go back, since she forgot something under the floorboards. Instead, Dad steers Sal into the house to meet Margaret. But before Sal enters Margaret’s house, she sees a girl’s frightened face in the window next door. This face is Phoebe Winterbottom’s. Phoebe, who has a wild imagination, will become Sal’s friend.
Coming from a more rural locale, Euclid is a shock for Sal; the little bits of grass in the yard seem like the only plant life here. And given how much Sal seems to love nature, it seems in character for her to want to know where the normal facets of farm life are. Sal doesn’t want to be here in Euclid—perhaps simply because of the lack of nature, or perhaps for a reason that’s connected to whatever Sal left behind under the floorboards. And Dad, at this point, seems to not be taking Sal’s emotional distress seriously. It’s not yet clear who Margaret is, but the fact that they stop at her house upon arriving in Euclid implies that Dad’s decision to move here somehow involves her.
Themes
Sal explains that not long ago, she was stuck in the car with her grandparents for six days. On their drive, she told them Phoebe’s story. And as she did so, Sal realized that Phoebe’s story was just like the plaster wall in the Bybanks house. Dad started chipping away the plaster one morning not long after Momma left. It was April, and as Dad waited for Momma to return, he worked on the wall.
Comparing Phoebe’s story to the plaster wall shows that Sal sees the value in looking at things in a new light and uncovering deeper truths, much like Dad was set on uncovering what was behind the wall.
Themes
Finally, one night, Dad and Sal learned that Momma wasn’t coming home. At 2:00 a.m. that night, Dad brought Sal downstairs to show her that he found a brick fireplace hidden behind the plaster. Phoebe’s story reminds Sal of the wall, because Phoebe’s story hides Sal’s story within it.
Discovering the previously unknown fireplace shows Sal that stories—or houses—can hold all sorts of secrets. If a person digs into a story, it’s possible to come up with something new, meaningful, or useful.
Themes
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