39 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren TarshisI Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A 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
Jeremy’s Navy SEAL pin
In Chapter 15, after Jeremy and Dex’s first conversation post tornado, Jeremy sends his little brother his SEAL pin with a note that reads, “You earned this” (88). Initially, Dex is shocked that his brother would part with the object that “made Jeremy a SEAL” (88). As he reflects, however, Dex understands that the pin is a symbol of the qualities that define a SEAL. What made Jeremy a SEAL is not the pin but “what was inside him”—courage, determination, discipline, and commitment to serving others. By passing the pin to his brother, Jeremy acknowledges Dex as embodying those qualities as well. Similarly, Dex reflects that what made Joplin a community is not the buildings that the tornado tore apart but the faith, resilience, and strength of the people.
The Hailstone
In Chapter 8, Dex is knocked out by a large hailstone. After getting him safely back to the car in Chapter 9, Dr. Gage recovers a hailstone that he stores in his portable freezer as a souvenir for Dex. Dex still has the hailstone in Chapter 15, when he and his family are living in an apartment temporarily; after the tornado, Dex had recovered it from Dr. Gage’s freezer.
When Dex first takes the hailstone out of the freezer, he wants “to smash it into a million pieces” since it was “part of the storm system that had destroyed his city” (85). As he reflects, he decides not to destroy the hailstone but instead to save it for Dr. Gage, as it may hold “a clue that would help Dr. Gage unravel the mysteries of tornadoes” (85). The hailstone symbolizes human agency through the pursuit of knowledge.
Making a Bed Correctly
In Chapter 4, Dex describes how Jeremy taught him to tuck in his bedding “extra tight” as he was taught in SEAL training (20). Later, when Dylan asks Dex what the “best thing Jeremy learned in training” was, Dex immediately replies that it was making his bed correctly (20). The answer was puzzling initially, but as Jeremy explained, making the bed correctly ensures a good start to the day, and at the end of the day, even if the day went poorly, the properly made bed is ready to host a good night’s sleep, which fuels productivity the following day. In other words, starting with one good action can create a chain reaction of good actions, even ensuring recovery if something goes wrong. In Chapter 15, Dylan helps set up the cot that his family donated for Dex to sleep on. Dex notes that “they made it right, the SEAL way” and had smiled at each other while doing so (87). Making the bed “correctly” symbolizes how small actions can be a way to assert agency over one’s experiences.
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