50 pages • 1 hour read
Julia FoxDown the Drain
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaChapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The American Dream”
Content Warning: This section of the guide details substance use, heavy alcohol consumption, physical and emotional abuse, domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and death by suicide.
In 1996, six-year-old Julia Fox moves from Italy, where she was born, to New York City to live with her dad, Tom Fox. The city overwhelms and excites her. She’s visited before, but it feels new to her this time. They take a taxi from the airport to Tom’s apartment, where Tom gives Julia a tour. The building seems enormous, and she’s delighted to have her own bedroom.
In Italy, Julia often lived with Grandpa, her maternal grandfather. At Grandpa’s, she and her brother, Chris, shared a room, and Julia never had her own space. Her mom was rarely home because she was working and putting herself through school. When Julia was four, the whole family was in New York together. They didn’t have a place to live, for reasons Julia can’t remember. Her mom grew increasingly upset because Tom’s New York life wasn’t the American dream she expected. Tension grew. One night when the family was on Tom’s sailboat, Mom insisted she was leaving, demanding that Tom return her and the kids’ passports. Julia tried to intercede and resolve the fight. Finally, Tom returned the passports, and they returned to Italy without Tom.
In the following years, Grandpa became Julia and Chris’s surrogate dad. He often commented on their parents’ negligence but always cared for them. They didn’t have money, and sometimes Julia stole candy or money to get things she wanted. Now in New York, she misses Grandpa, Chris, and Mom. Tom never answers when she asks if Chris and Mom are coming to the United States.
Julia meets the neighbors, Sharon and her son Josh. Julia and Josh start spending all their time together. Tom often leaves Julia home alone. When he doesn’t lock her in her room, she and Josh play pranks on the neighbors together. Meanwhile, Julia starts stealing cash from Tom’s wallet and hiding it in her room. She feels “like a little lady” whenever she uses the money to buy herself things (12).
Sometimes Julia visits her paternal grandmother, Margaret, and her Aunt Beth. They take her on fancy outings and Julia admires Margaret and Beth’s relationship. Her opinion changes when she overhears Margaret forcing Beth to fire her therapist one day.
Tom takes Julia to see her first movie in the theater, The Fifth Element. She loves it so much that Tom gets her a small part in his friend’s film, Fire Dancer. The friend is convicted of murder, and the movie release is pushed back. Julia goes to see it years later, but her part has been cut.
Julia feels lonely at school. Then she befriends another Italian girl named Mia, and they become inseparable. Julia loves Mia’s mom, Marissa, too. After school, Tom, Julia, Mia, and Marissa start visiting the diner together. They spend time at each other’s houses, too. However, the more time the girls spend together, the more they fight. Tom and Marissa become inseparable, too, so the girls have no space. One day, Julia catches Tom and Marissa kissing. When Mom visits, she finds Marissa’s stockings in the apartment and gets upset, breaking all the dishware. Afterward, she forbids Julia from seeing Mia again. Chris stays behind when Mom leaves. Julia likes his company but misses Mia. At school, her teachers notice she’s depressed and make her see the school psychologist. Afterward, Tom enrolls her in transcendental meditation classes.
Julia and Danny become friends. Danny’s mom, Tanya, has an alcohol addiction, and Julia’s mom doesn’t like Julia spending time around her. Julia wishes her parents would divorce as they’re always fighting when Mom is back. She also resents Tom because he’s still talking to Marissa, and she still can’t see Mia. Over time, Tom grows increasingly angry and violent. Julia starts pulling away from him, acting more tough, and dressing in baggy clothes.
At the end of elementary school, Julia says goodbye to Danny for the summer as she’s going to Italy. She fears losing her friendship with Danny when she returns because they aren’t attending the same middle school.
Julia is in sixth grade during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center that led to the collapse of the Twin Towers and thousands of deaths and injuries. Julia feels frightened for months afterward.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Big Girl”
Julia calls Mom when she gets her period. Mom and Tom return home, and Tom locks Mom and Julia in the bathroom, demanding that Mom teach Julia how to use a tampon. Julia lies, saying Mom helped her so they can escape from the bathroom.
Julia befriends Ella and starts spending time at her house with her sisters, Kat and Kayla, and her mom, Silvia. Silvia is often drunk, so the girls do whatever they want. One day, Ella teaches Julia how to smoke marijuana. Kat fascinates Julia because she works as a dominatrix. Ella is fun, too, but she’s more political. One day, she takes Julia and Ella to an anti-war protest in Washington, DC.
Ella and her sisters throw parties when Silvia isn’t around. One night, Julia meets Kat’s friend, Mikey. He’s 26 and shocked to learn that Julia is 11. He shows interest in her and they kiss. However, Julia hides from him while he’s in the bathroom because she isn’t ready to have sex. Afterward, she starts dressing differently to show off her body.
Silvia gets a new job shortly after, and the family plans to move to California. They tell Julia to join them, and Tom says it’s okay. Mom forbids it when she finds out, and Julia has to say goodbye.
Julia and Trisha become best friends. Trisha’s house is dark and messy and her mom, Ronny, is drunk and angry. On Julia’s first visit, Trisha and Ronny argue, and Trisha throws a mug at Ronny’s head. Ronny calls the police, and Julia tells Trisha to run. Trisha tells Julia she wants her dad, Johnny, to get sober so she can live with him instead. The girls go to CVS to get hair dye to disguise themselves from the police officers. They dye their hair in the park, but the police show up and take them home. Julia is hysterical.
Julia and Trisha start spending time with Trisha’s dad. They accompany him to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, and he takes them out for food. Meanwhile, Julia teaches Trisha how to steal. They shoplift together and get multiple piercings and tattoos. One day, they get escorted out of Bloomingdale’s for stealing jewelry.
Julia gets a message from Trisha saying her mom is taking her to Oklahoma. Julia calls back, but Trisha is already gone. Afterward, Julia befriends Rose. The girls become inseparable, and Julia joins Rose’s friend group including Dominique, Abeline, Tommy, and Tara. Julia’s grades start to suffer.
Meanwhile, Julia’s home life worsens. Mom is pregnant and staying in New York for the birth and maternity leave. Mom often physically abuses Julia, but when the neighbors call the cops, they don’t do anything to stop her.
Julia enjoys her creative writing class. She wants to please her teacher, Ms. Williams, and agrees to submit an assignment. Ms. Williams reads her assignment aloud to the class, and the students laugh. Julia swears never to share her secrets again.
Tara invites Julia’s friend group over. Tara gets upset during the party when she sees Dominique with her crush. She forces everyone but Rose and Julia to leave. Then she locks them out on the balcony and threatens to jump off the roof. The friends convince her not to hurt herself.
Julia has a crush on Tommy, but he’s dating Abeline. One night, Julia’s friend Alice convinces Julia to visit Tommy’s house. They end up sleeping in the same bed and Julia performs fellatio on Tommy, but they don’t talk about it afterward.
Julia graduates middle school. She says goodbye to Rose because they are not attending the same high school.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Motherland”
Julia goes to Italy for the summer. One day, she meets an older man named Giovanni. They start seeing each other and eventually have sex. Rumors spread about Julia, but she doesn’t care. She and Giovanni keep seeing each other in secret. She’s devastated when she returns to New York. She and Rose meet, but when Julia tells her about Giovanni, Rose is distracted. Julia loses interest in being with her American friends and begs her parents to send her back to Italy. Finally, they enroll her in a Catholic school near Como and Mom arranges for her to live with a family, Rossana and her daughter, Letizia.
Julia is unhappy in Italy. Rossana is strict, and Letizia is mean. No one at school likes Julia either, and she hasn’t seen Giovanni since returning. She tries to keep up with her American friends but has little computer access. One day, Trisha tells Julia that Rose has a new boyfriend named Ace and is rarely around anymore.
Julia struggles in school. Meanwhile, she uses Myspace and AOL to attempt to contact Rose. When Rose finally calls, she accuses Julia of abandoning her.
Julia befriends a group of older girls at school. Meanwhile, her appearance changes, and she starts dressing differently. Letizia notices how popular Julia is becoming and starts acting nicer to her. One day, she tells Julia she has a crush on Alessandro, a boy they ride the train with. Julia makes a show of talking to him and Letizia gets jealous. At the discoteca one weekend, Julia sees Alessandro again, and they make out. A few days later, Mom calls to say Letizia’s family doesn’t want her living with them anymore and she should stay with Grandpa.
Instead, Julia moves into Mom’s empty apartment near school. Grandpa is sick anyway. Not long later, Julia starts seeing Marco. She doesn’t love him like she loved Giovanni and breaks off the relationship.
Julia spends the summer in Italy. She’s lonely in her mom’s empty apartment. One day, she reconnects with her former classmate, Veronica, and they become inseparable throughout the summer and fall semesters.
Julia returns to New York for Christmas. She reconnects with Trisha, who takes her to a party where she meets Rose’s ex, Ace, one night. Rose, who just left a rehabilitation center, isn’t around. Julia notices Ace giving her attention right away. He’s a drug dealer who everyone respects. They start seeing each other and having sex. Ace tells Julia she’s everything he’s always wanted and loves her. One night, they get each other’s names tattooed on their arms. Trisha suggests the relationship is moving too fast, but Julia ignores her. On her last night in New York, Ace takes her to a party. He becomes angry when she talks to a former classmate. When she talks back to him, Ace is pleased. They use drugs together and have sex. The next day, he makes her promise she’ll come back to New York after finishing the school year.
Julia has trouble communicating with Ace once she’s back in Italy. Trisha says he’s jealous and thinks she’s seeing someone else. Ace demands that Julia return to New York to prove she loves him. She lies, telling Grandpa she’s pregnant and needs money for an abortion. She uses the money to buy a roundtrip ticket to New York. On the plane, she feels guilty for leaving but tells herself everything will be okay.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Chapters 1-3 introduce the memoir’s thematic explorations concerning personal challenges, self-discovery, resilience, and empowerment via vivid depictions of Fox’s childhood and adolescence. The text compresses Fox’s elementary, middle, and early high school years into these opening chapters to depict the mood and atmosphere of Fox’s coming-of-age experiences. New York City is the primary background for this period of Fox’s life. This setting therefore establishes the tenor of many of Fox’s childhood and adolescent joys, challenges, and personal discoveries. When she arrives in 1996, Julia feels the city offers her “a fresh start, a chance to wipe the slate clean and try again” (2). The city becomes a passage into self-discovery and grants Julia the opportunity “to form a new identity” and to “finally have some independence” (12). Over time, however, Julia’s New York experiences complicate her sense of safety and security, presenting her with familial and social challenges. Julia’s inconsistent home life, ever-changing academic sphere, and an unreliable string of friends destabilize Julia’s formerly idyllic reality and force her to fend for herself. Her early life is therefore defined by this array of unpredictable circumstances, all of which compel Julia toward self-reliance and resilience.
Julia’s complicated relationships with her parents instigate Julia’s ongoing feelings of loneliness, isolation, abandonment, and longing. Moving to New York with her dad doesn’t offer her a peaceful home life or a loving paternal relationship. Rather, Tom often leaves Julia at the apartment alone and does little to care for her. Tom not only “works a lot” and is “always tired and in a bad mood” when he gets home but does not stock the house with groceries or supply Julia with the basic clothing and home care supplies that she needs (12). His negligence and abuse compel Julia to learn “how to care for [her]self” (12). Julia begins “stealing anything [she] can get [her] hands on” (12) because she has no other way to procure necessities for herself.
Her shoplifting habit thus begins as a form of resourcefulness, self-reliance, and personal strength. The same is true of Julia’s relationships with friends including Josh and Mia. These friendships afford Julia a sense of independence and grant her an escape from her lonely home life. They also offer her a reprieve from the tumult that defines her home whenever her mom visits from Italy. Losing these relationships, in turn, shatters Julia’s sense of peace and worsens her feelings of abandonment and fear of being unlovable. Her mother’s physical abuse, indeed, augments her father’s emotional abuse and thus compounds Julia’s fear and isolation. To survive these hostile familial dynamics, Julia grows increasingly rebellious. The acts of rebellion she stages throughout the first three chapters are all manifestations of Julia’s longing for freedom, independence, love, and connection and demonstrate her exploration of the Impact of Personal and Social Challenges.
Julia’s friendships with Danny, Ella, Trisha, Rose, and Veronica follow a similar pattern of connection and loss that complicates Julia’s emotional experience. Julia forms fast and deep connections with all five girls. She enjoys spending time with Danny, Ella, Trisha, and Rose because these friendships offer her escapes from her home in New York and allows her to have new experiences. The girls go on adventures throughout the city together, or Julia spends time at her friends’ homes and discovers new iterations of family life, parental dysfunction, and adolescent alienation. Julia’s connections with Danny, Ella, Trisha, and Rose particularly temper Julia’s loneliness and longing. The girls distract Julia from her intense emotional experience and serve as confidantes to her impulses, regardless of how wild or adventurous they are. Dying their hair, shoplifting clothes and jewelry, and getting piercings and tattoos are the girls' ways of rebelling against their parents. However, these acts also represent the girls’ desire to be seen, valued, and loved. Julia’s connection to Veronica similarly develops out of loneliness.
As Julia grows up, her social settings, friend groups, and romantic encounters lead her into increasingly dangerous circumstances. Her experiences with Danny, Ella, Trisha, Rose, and Veronica are often unsanctioned by adults. The tenor of Julia’s pastimes changes once Julia starts to see Giovanni and Ace. This is particularly true in the context of Julia and Ace’s relationship, as Ace introduces Julia to substance use and compels her to lie to her grandfather and leave Italy without informing her parents. These impulsive decisions have greater implications, as Julia is now older and taking bigger risks. As she ages, her challenges compel her to seize her autonomy with new boldness. She starts to define herself according to her relationships and rebellions to claim a sense of independence—introducing the theme of Self-Discovery and Empowerment.
