55 pages • 1 hour read
Ibi ZoboiMy Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Imagination Versus Reality
Ebony-Grace lets her forceful imagination take over reality, and the conflict between the two spaces—her “imagination location” and the material world she inhabits—forms one of the story’s key themes. For most of the book, Ebony-Grace’s imagination and reality are irreconcilable, with Ebony-Grace using the former to control the latter as a means of coping with life changes and challenges. It’s like they’re nations at war, and only one country can win. On the plane to New York City, Ebony-Grace says, “[I] search all around my mind—my ‘imagination location,’ as Granddaddy calls it—for a new name for this planet” (12). Though she’s not even there yet, she’s already twisting New York into her outer space drama. It becomes “Planet No Joke City,” her dad turns into “the imperious King Sirius Julius” (16), and the kids in the neighborhood are “his nefarious minions” (27). Save for Bianca, Ebony-Grace makes New York City and the people in it her enemy. By doing so, she turns Bianca against her.
The children can be mean to her—Calvin calls her “ugly,” and Monqiue labels her an “ice cream sandwich”—but Ebony-Grace isn’t a victim. Her imagination can make her unkind and judgmental. She repeatedly refers to the Nine Flavas as “minionettes,” even though Bianca is a member, they’re her friends, and the group tries to include Ebony-Grace. They invite her to hold the rope, but Ebony-Grace’s imagination subsumes the activity, and she sees it as “a vortex that will swallow [Bianca] whole and teleport her right up onto the Uhura” (128). She moves the rope so fast that Bianca falls, and the girls think she’s trying to “kill” them. In her imagination, Ebony-Grace wants the girls to disappear.
To get along in the world, Ebony-Grace must create a new paradigm: Imagination versus reality has to become imagination and reality. In other words, they should peacefully coexist. The Prime Directive encapsulates the goal, with Granddaddy telling her, “You can’t be messin’ with what people already got going. You got to leave it the way it is. Respect it. Get to know what it’s all about” (219). Following her grandpa’s wisdom, Ebony-Grace tries to help the Nine Flavas, and she makes friends with Pablo Jones. She realizes her imagination isn’t incompatible with reality. On the plane back to Huntsville, she’s glad she didn’t destroy the planet and the king—she’s proud that she realized that she didn’t have to wipe out reality with her imagination.
Self-Expression and Identity Creation
Imagination Versus Reality links to self-expression and identity creation, as Ebony-Grace and the other characters use their imagination to form unique identities and express who they are. Through her imagination, Ebony-Grace becomes E-Grace Starfleet. Using their imaginations, the Nine Flavas girls become different “flavas.” Daddy uses his imagination to create another identity, turning into DJ Jule Thief at the block party. Uncle Richard tries to create a different identity by insisting that Ebony-Grace call him Uncle Rich, suggesting that if people call him “Rich,” he’ll become wealthy. Thus, self-expression and creating an identity applies to people regardless of their age.
Like the other characters, Ebony-Grace has the right to create an identity and express herself, yet her identity and self-expression don’t leave room for other people’s identities and self-expression, which links to the theme of Growth and Acceptance. When Ebony-Grace and Bianca reunite, Ebony-Grace judges Bianca’s style, “[Her] shirt is too tight […] and I don’t like all the striped colors on it […]. I’ll make sure to lend her some of my clothes that I sneaked into my suitcase—my NASA, Superman, and Empire Strikes Back T-shirts” (34). She can’t tolerate differences and wants Bianca to share her identity and way of expressing herself. If someone doesn’t act like her, they become the enemy.
The irony (the twist) is that Ebony-Grace’s robust identity and self-expression link her to conformity. The Nine Flavas Crew tolerates different identities and expressions—flavors—but Ebony-Grace doesn’t. She thinks everyone should be one flavor, outer space, and her intolerance creates conflict. As Bianca tells her, “[Y]ou’re just a five-year-old in a twelve-year-old’s body with those stupid baby games” (164). Since Ebony-Grace constantly disses Bianca’s new friends and self-expression, Bianca insults Ebony-Grace’s static identity and self-expression. She’s criticizing Ebony-Grace for not creating a more mature identity.
As with imagination versus reality, Ebony-Grace has to learn to adapt to other people’s identities and expressions—a component of growth and acceptance. She can’t expect everyone to be like Granddaddy and embrace an identity solely linked to science fiction. She learns that people’s identities are multilayered and not exclusive. Pablo likes breaking and rapping, but he also likes outer space, calling himself Pablo Jupiter. After Calvin raps, Ebony-Grace “recognizes something in his words—Jupiter and Genesis and survivors and rivals. These are the things Star Trek is all about—other planets and new beginnings and war and enemies!” (209). As Ebony-Grace asks Bianca to teach her breaking, she shows a willingness to expand her identity and expression.
Growth and Acceptance
To reconcile imagination with reality and tolerate diverse self-expressions and identities, Ebony-Grace must grow and practice acceptance of others who don’t think, dress, or act like her. She can’t keep pitting outer space against the physical world she inhabits, nor can she always view anyone who doesn’t exclusively embrace her identity and self-expression as an enemy. Another way to put it: She can continue to do those things, but if she does, she’ll lead a rough, combative life. Granddaddy sums up her predicament when he tells her,
I hope you’re not doing what you do down here, pushing all those kids away by talking about spaceships and aliens all day. That’s between me and you, Starfleet. Not everybody’s gonna understand our little space adventures (218).
She must realize that people, including the reader, might have a hard time fathoming her intense interest in outer space and superheroes, but that doesn’t make them enemies. While outer space and science fiction have been the things that have helped her cope, the world is full of people with different interests and identities. Part of growing up is, ideally, learning how to get along with the inherent diversity of reality, a progression that is central to the novel’s plot.
Growth and acceptance don’t mean Ebony-Grace has to repress her imagination or fabricate another identity. She can be herself but has to let others be themselves. Ebony-Grace doesn’t have to grow out of her interest in outer space, but they can grow with her. The Genesis Device comes from Star Trek, and Grandaddy weaves the Prime Directive into the outer space drama. Thus, through her interests, she matures. The Genesis Device and the Prime Directive work together to put Ebony-Grace on the path of growth and acceptance. As Ebony-Grace ponders:
Maybe the Genesis Device can change how a captain sees a new planet, not the other way around. Maybe the captain thinks the planet is all broken and dirty, but she’ll have to follow the Prime Directive: Don’t go trying to change things up (291).
Instead of trying to alter the world around her, she accepts it. Acceptance doesn’t mean the world is perfect, but it implies an understanding that the world can’t be perfect. The world is composed of humans, and they are flawed—“broken and dirty”—but that doesn’t mean that Ebony-Grace can’t get along with them and be their friends. She’s human, so she has flaws: She can be stubborn, and her imagination can make her somewhat oppressive. People have to accept her just as she has to accept them.
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By Ibi Zoboi
