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
The next day, Phoebe comes to school with another message: “We never know the worth of water until the well is dry.” Phoebe says it’s a clue—Mrs. Winterbottom might be in a well. During a passing period, Sal walks right into Ben. He rubs a spot off of her cheek, and Sal leans forward to kiss him—just as he turns away. She ends up kissing his locker. Kissing seems way too complicated, though Sal is kind of relieved she wasn’t successful in kissing Ben.
Phoebe humorously blows past the intended meaning of this phrase and settles on a more literal meaning that supports her worldview. This phrase actually suggests that people don’t know how valuable something is until that thing is gone. In this case, Phoebe didn’t know how much she loved and relied on her mother until her mother disappeared.
Themes
Mr. Birkway comes to class with everyone’s journals—which he’s going to share with the class. He explains that he’s going to change names and obscure the covers, so nobody will know whose journal he’s reading. The class looks nervous. Several people ask to use the restroom or go to the nurse, but Mr. Birkway picks up a journal. He hides the cover and reads that “Betty” will go to hell because she always says “God.” Mary Lou is purple and starts to shout at Christy, but Mr. Birkway says he likes this passage because lots of people aren’t aware when they’re offending other people.
Mr. Birkway’s comment about Christy’s journal entry reveals the purpose of this exercise: he wants to teach his students that everyone sees the world differently. These journals, he believes, will be totally anonymous, so he’ll be able to use them as teaching tools to show his students that everyone has different points of view (a lesson that’s similar to the mysterious “walk two moons” message that was left on Phoebe’s porch). However, Mary Lou’s reaction shows that the students will be able to tell whose journals are whose despite Mr. Birkway’s attempts to keep them anonymous—and reading their private thoughts aloud is already causing fights.
Themes
Mr. Birkway pulls out another journal and reads that “Linda” is the writer’s best friend, but Linda shares everything—even things that aren’t interesting, like what her father wears to bed. Mr. Birkway explains he likes this passage because it illustrates that best friends can still annoy each other, but one girl gives another a “wicked eyebrow-message.” From the next journal, Mr. Birkway reads that “Jeremiah” is clean but also a jerk. Mary Lou looks ready to fall over, and Alex looks betrayed. The bell rings. At first, everyone is relieved—but then, kids confront one another about what they wrote. Sal is happy to be going back to the police station with Phoebe.
Mr. Birkway doesn’t see—or doesn’t care—that reading his students’ journals aloud is creating conflict and making his students feel violated and embarrassed. Rather than teaching the students valuable lessons, hearing their classmates’ perspectives is hurtful because all of these entries contain negative judgments of other people. In this way, Mr. Birkway’s lesson is having the opposite effect that he intended—rather than encouraging his students to see things from one another’s perspectives, it’s merely exposing the fact that the students make assumptions and judgments about one another.
Themes
The officers let Phoebe and Sal in to see Sergeant Bickle right away. Phoebe puts the newest message, her evidence from Mrs. Cadaver’s house, and a list of more things to investigate on his desk. Sergeant Bickle says the girls don’t understand, but Phoebe calls him an “idiot” and storms out. Sal waits while Sergeant Bickle follows Phoebe, and she takes the opportunity to look at the photos on his desk. In one photo, Sergeant Bickle stands with a woman, presumably his wife, and a young man who must be their son. Their son is the lunatic.
It’s possible that Sergeant Bickle has information the girls don’t have—or he could simply be taking Mr. Winterbottom at his word that everything is fine, and that they don’t need law enforcement to help them find Mrs. Winterbottom. But to Phoebe, this again feels like a betrayal because Sergeant Bickle is refusing to take her seriously and see the situation from her point of view. Meanwhile, Sal’s discovery that Sergeant Bickle’s son is the lunatic reveals that they’ve misjudged this young man—clearly, the lunatic isn’t who Sal and Phoebe thought he was, and she’s connected to them in a way they didn’t expect.
Themes
Get the entire Walk Two Moons LitChart as a printable PDF.
