Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What the Eyes Don’t See, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Environmental Injustice
Truth vs. Corruption
Community Values and Collective Duty
The American Dream
Family, Tradition, and Strength
Summary
Analysis
The following Tuesday, Mona walked into Jenny’s office to check on the status of their application to the institutional review board, or IRB. She found Jenny watching a broadcast of Marc Edwards in front of Flint City Hall, explaining that Flint’s water was 19 times as corrosive as Detroit’s. Mona was due to have lunch with Marc later that day; her mother, Bebe, was in town to help look after the girls. Bebe, like Mona’s coworkers, was beginning to sense that Mona was under a lot of pressure, and that she was losing weight due to stress. Mona didn’t want to share what was going on with her mother, though, afraid of worrying Bebe.
Mona didn’t just have to strike a careful balance between doing her research as thoroughly as possible while getting it out as fast as possible—she also had to strike a balance between the rage she and other public health activists felt, and the need to remain strong for her family. Just as she drew strength from her family, Mona knew they drew strength from her, too.
Themes
Elin came by Hurley to pick Mona up for their lunch with Marc—Dean Dean was meeting them, too. At the restaurant, Mona began sharing some of her latest data with Elin and Dean. Soon, Marc arrived. Mona knew that Marc and Dean knew each other from a heated water issue in Lansing several years ago, but the weary and eccentric Marc showed no signs of recognizing Dean. Mona could tell that Marc was laser-focused on the situation in Flint.
Mona’s initial impression of Marc confirmed that he was difficult to read—but intensely passionate about bringing change to Flint. Mona sensed that Marc’s focus meant he would be a good ally for her to have. She needed people who were willing to stand up for the Flint community in the absence of real leadership.
Themes
Over lunch, Marc warned Mona that they had a long road ahead of them. Flint had definitely been gaming the system, taking shortcuts, and ignoring the sampling that needed to be done before and after the water switch. But still, the EPA wasn’t taking over from MDEQ, and Marc suggested that the two agencies were actually working together to bury the problem. As Marc spoke about the pressing need to switch back to Detroit water, hardly anyone present at the lunch was able to enjoy their food.
This passage illustrates that the coverup going on in Flint wasn’t just a local issue—other government agencies were stepping in, too, to keep the truth about Flint under wraps. This fact no doubt intimidated Mona—but it also proved to be galvanizing. No one in power was going to admit what was happening in Flint unless someone—or a group of people—forced their hand.
Themes
Mona could tell that Marc was a person with a clear moral compass, and that he would be a great ally to her throughout this fight. When Mona asked Marc—hypothetically, to avoid showing him her still-in-progress research—if it would make a difference if the data showed an increase in blood-lead levels after the switch, Marc told her such a scenario would be a “game changer.” As the lunch went on and the group discussed how to get ready-to-feed formula to Flint families with newborns to care for, Mona felt grateful to have a “new friend.”
Mona could sense that Marc was as dedicated to seeing through the fight ahead as she was. Marc’s knowledge of the “game” afoot made him indispensable to Mona—but his passion and good faith made him more akin to a true “friend” than a mere ally in a political fight.
Themes
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Mona tried to reach out to the Genesee County Health Department’s Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides mothers with nutritional support, to see if they could pioneer a ready-to-feed formula initiative. But even with the news about possible lead in the water, the program officials wrote back that they didn’t have the resources for something like that. Elin followed up with Kildee’s office, but the USDA couldn’t do anything to help, either, unless a health advisory or official emergency was announced. But a bit of good news came when Melany wrote back to Mona’s email about her lunch meeting with Marc stating that she wanted Hurley to be “part of the solution” to Flint’s crisis.
This passage shows that Mona and her team’s struggle would be a constant push-and-pull between progress and inertia. Even though they faced difficulties getting initiatives for the people of Flint off the ground due to bureaucracy, there were more and more people joining the fight. For every doubt, there was hope—and hope was what they needed to pull their community together and fight for the truth.
Themes
The next morning, after a night staying up late to look at new resident applications, Mona and Jenny got news that their IRB application had been approved. Mona had been getting used to hearing “no” so often that she was shocked and heartened to finally get such a big “yes.”
Again, this passage shows that Mona and Jenny would find themselves navigating a series of ups and downs as they pushed forward in the fight for Flint.
Themes
