53 pages • 1 hour read
Shana BurgA Thousand Never Evers
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Swing
Addie Ann’s swing in the novel is one example of symbolism, representing her “swing” between youth and adulthood. As the text opens, Addie Ann is “soaring through the sky on [her] swing” as she thinks of her graduation from elementary school and her impending start at middle school in the fall (1). Her use of the swing throughout the novel continues, often in moments when she contemplates the events of the novel and their impact on her life. For example, after Elias goes missing, she goes to her swing with Delilah, as “together [they] swing in silence, back and forth to the rhythm of Mama’s wails” (52). The swing—a toy used in youth for enjoyment—here represents Addie Ann’s desire to escape the realities of growing up but being unable to because of the infiltration of her mother’s grief.
Similarly, as the Black community plans to go to the garden picking and she considers whether to ignore her Mama’s warning and attend, she sits on her swing and considers the day: “From my seat on the swing, I see the sky’s soft blue it only turns fall mornings. A few stars still sparkle. And right about now, the world seems half-asleep, stuck in a place where everything’s all right and everyone who should be in it is” (153). This moment at dawn directly reflects this moment Addie Ann’s life. She is at the “dawn” of adulthood—but with that adulthood comes the realization that everything will not necessarily be “all right” and not “everyone who should be in it is.” Rather than face those realities, she spends a moment on the swing, struggling between her desire to remain young and innocent and her desire to help her community. This struggle and the symbolic swing convey the theme of Finding One’s Voice in the Fight Against Prejudice. As she metaphorically “swings” between youth and adulthood, she realizes the importance of seeing the world for what it is so that she can find her voice.
Ultimately, her swing is destroyed in the fire started by the sheriff in order to arrest Uncle Bump. As Addie Ann lists all of the things that were destroyed, she mentions their lack of a home but also her childhood things, like her map, jump rope, television, and swing—noting how these things “matter for everything” (183). The fact that Addie Ann laments the loss of her swing shows its importance to her but also shows how she is not necessarily ready to grow up. However, circumstances have forced her to do so. Ultimately, its destruction symbolizes the idea that she no longer has the luxury of youth and innocence but instead will need to mature and use her voice to save Uncle Bump and her larger community.
Fire
Fire is one common motif throughout the text. Its destructive nature yet strength and cleansing ability show its duality, impacting characters both negatively and positively. In its destruction, it links to Institutionalized Racism as a Tool for Oppression, while its capability to strengthen resolve is tied to Finding One’s Voice in the Fight Against Prejudice.
The first instance of fire occurs as the Black community gathers in the church to discuss the civil rights movement occurring throughout the South. As they see it burning outside the window, disrupting their meeting and potentially trapping them inside, the church goes into a panic, with everyone attempting to flee at once. However, as they calm at the hands of Mrs. Jacks’s singing, they realize that they are safe. Instead of being a destructive force, Addie Ann notes how “the burning cross lights [their] way home” (41). This idea turns the use of fire on its head, as the KKK attempted to disrupt their meeting and potentially burn down the church.
Fire is used elsewhere in the novel as a tool for destruction and hate as well. Addie Ann’s home and belongings are destroyed by fire, just as they were when her father was killed 12 years earlier. However, both of these instances, while devastating to Addie Ann and her family, also serve as motivation for the characters. When Addie Ann recounts the story of her father to the group outside the jailhouse, she unites them in their resistance to the injustice of Bump’s arrest. Similarly, the loss of her home and the despair she feels become tools for her to speak to the group: first to rally them at the jailhouse, then to tell her story, and then finally to speak out at the trial.
In addition to the physical fires in the text, the idea of a fire within representing passion and strength is also present. When Elias first talks to Addie Ann of Medgar Evers—at a time when she struggles to understand his importance—he tells her that “everybody’s got some fire, some rage […] It’s how you use your fire that counts” (6). This idea continues throughout the text, as Addie Ann finds herself growing more and more angry at the injustice she faces and then using that anger as a tool for finding her voice. After learning of her father, she thinks,
The sparks catch inside me. They burst into a river of flame. ‘Yeah,’ I whisper. ‘I can. And I will.’ When I hear that whisper, I know whose it is. Before this moment, I would’ve sworn that whisper belonged to my brother, who’s always sure where to go, what to do. But when I hear it now, so clear, so close, I know that voice. It’s my own (187).
As Addie Ann grows and matures, she discovers that the “fire” and “anger” she feels within her are actually a “river of flame”—one that can be used as a tool for her fight against injustice.
The River
The idea of a river inside Addie Ann is symbolic of her fight for equality as she joins the members of her community in standing up for their rights. It occurs in Addie Ann’s mind as she struggles with her grief over Elias’s disappearance but also in her quest of Finding One’s Voice in the Fight Against Prejudice. The first time that thoughts of a river occur in Addie Ann’s mind is immediately after Elias runs off; she lies in his bed thinking of him:
I close my eyes and breathe that too-much-baseball smell mixed up with the smell of sage from the farm. […] Then I feel a river in my chest. And even though my eyes, they’re shut, I see sunlight. Glittery bits. Yellow and orange. Everything around me sparkles (54).
Following this point, when Addie Ann struggles with her anger, grief, and despair, she repeatedly thinks of this “glitter” and the “river” within her. For example, as she stands at the border of the fence to the garden—contemplating whether to take her final step into adulthood and join her community in defense of the garden—she sees glitter shining off the thrown crowbar. In that moment, a river inside her is “rushing over rocks. Rushing fast. A force without beginning or end. A force that can’t be broken” (161). This river is a symbolic representation of the force within her that comes to fight for equality throughout the text. Equality is portrayed as something inevitable—“rushing over rocks. Rushing fast”—a force that is coming for Kuckachoo and the entire south; for Addie Ann, it is not a question of when but of how she can take advantage of that force to ensure that it comes faster and of the role she will play in the river of equality crashing through Kuckachoo.
