Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in When Will There Be Good News?, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma, Survival, and Reckoning with the Past
Appearances vs. Reality
Lies and Deceptions
Family
Summary
Analysis
Reggie wishes she had warned Jackson about her criminal brother. Then he wouldn’t have been so shocked when they entered Ms. MacDonald’s house and were greeted by a knife-wielding Billy. Billy pushes Jackson to the floor and half-strangles Reggie, looking wild-eyed. She can feel his knife against her skin. Ms. MacDonald’s books have been trashed. Jackson gets up, angrily telling Billy, “It’s your job to look after your sister.” Reggie tells Billy that his friends have been terrorizing her. She figures that if she can keep him talking, he’ll get bored and leave.
Reggie and Jackson have a shocking encounter with Billy, who seems to be half-seriously thinking about harming his sister. Predictably, this angers Jackson, who lost his own sister to violence. This is also another example of an environment Reggie had believed to be safe haven—Ms. MacDonald’s house—undergoing a hostile invasion.
Themes
Suddenly, they hear a savage growling. Sadie leaps and digs her teeth into Billy’s forearm. He starts screaming. Sadie won’t let go until Jackson punches her in the side of the head. Then he kneels on Billy’s back, pinning him to the ground. While Reggie comforts Sadie, Jackson asks if she wants him to call the police. She says no. They can both see that Billy is “hurtling at breakneck speed towards a bed end” no matter what they do.
Showing herself a faithful watchdog and vindicating Dr. Hunter’s trust in her, Sadie leaps to Reggie’s defense. They decide to let Billy go, though, believing there’s nothing to be gained by having him arrested.
Themes
