98 pages • 3 hours read
Eden RobinsonSon of a Trickster
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Danger and Risk of Supernatural Powers
Supernatural powers, especially in young adult fiction, are often idolized and envied as a strength, but Robinson’s idea of magic is dark, dangerous, and unnerving; for Jared it is more of a curse than a blessing. Magic is closely tied to mental health and fear of judgment, and even though magic provides an explanation for his peculiar experiences, it initially makes Jared question his sanity and makes him feel “weak.” Maggie, Nana Sophia, Mrs. Jaks, and even Jwa’sins keep their magic hidden from Jared, suggesting it is better kept secret and not shared for the sake of living a “normal” life. This advice is not unwarranted, given that Phil has always thought Maggie was “delusional” for having “this whole imaginary world going where she’s a big powerful witch and she’s being chased by mythical creatures” (271).
Jared faces a similar situation, worried that Sarah will not believe any of the things he sees. She used to hear the fireflies as child, but her mother sent her to therapy, and as a result, Sarah has repressed her magic. When Jared shares his magic with her unintentionally, it is a revelation for Sarah: she feels “alive for the first time ever” (297), but the magnitude of the experience, coupled with her already unstable mental health, overwhelms her to the point of attempting suicide. By adding magical elements to an otherwise realistic novel, and presenting magic as so closely intertwined with mental health, Robinson creates an unsettling mood of doubt and concern rather than one of fascination and curiosity.
As much as this sacred, cultural knowledge and unique ability is an isolating experience for Jared, it does connect him to the important women in his life on a profound level. He understands more of Maggie’s past, and the lengths she went to keep and raise him, despite the trauma that resulted in Jared’s birth. He understands Granny Nita’s apprehension and worry, and this new understanding inspires him to rebuild a relationship with her. Even though she is not yet ready to understand it fully, Jared shares his magic with Sarah, which validates the stirrings she felt as a child but was forced to repress. The first time he exercises his power to transcend his human boundaries, he meets Mrs. Jaks’ spirit, without whose help he might have died, never returning to his physical self. The existence of magic overturns Jared’s assumptions about his own life, and Robinson utilizes the supernatural to overturn readers’ assumptions about magic.
Native Identity and Culture
Jared’s entire family, as well as most of the people he spends time with, are Native. In a town like Kitimat, where there are many “town Natives” like Jared in addition to those living on the Reserve of Kitamaat Village, Native identity is normalized and not discussed as something unusual. Activities like harvesting moose and salmon are ordinary family chores, and Robinson peppers the story with casual references including the band A Tribe Called Red and the All-Native Basketball Tournament.
Jared is Native on both sides of his family (Heiltsuk and ‘Namgis) but does not go out of his way to learn about his clan history or cultivate his identity. In addition to the commonplace elements of Native life in British Columbia, Robinson also imbues the text with specific Native animal symbolism (river otters, orcas, fireflies), but Jared is not familiar enough with these symbols to fully grasp their significance when they appear. Sarah, on the other hand, is intent on “decolonizing” herself and is the character most outspoken about her Native identity. She and George attend protests and regularly discuss the Idle No More movement, through which Native people worldwide are demanding indigenous sovereignty and indigenous rights.
Sarah’s relationship to her heritage is complicated, though, as she either feels “too white” or “not white enough” to fit in with her mixed, mostly white family (208). Sarah’s mother, the Jaks’ daughter, does not acknowledge her Native heritage—“We’re supposed to tell people we’re Spanish” (168), Sarah explains—and discourages Sarah from identifying with it, refusing to let Sarah move in with the great-uncles because she is does not want Sarah “going rez.” For some, assimilation into a more homogenous national culture is less risky than enduring the emotional and sometimes physical risk associated with being different.
Sarah and Jared’s maternal grandmothers, Mrs. Jaks and Granny Nita, both suppressed their Native identities when they turned to religion. For Granny Nita, the aversion to her culture was a result of the trauma she endured as an adolescent at residential school and then at the sanitorium: “The nuns messed her up. They made her think everything Indian was evil” (68), Maggie says, and she sees this view as the cause of the rift in their relationship. Even though Anita “went full God happy” (203), doing so did not stop Wee’git from tormenting her family; he maliciously tricked Maggie and has returned to meddle in Jared’s life, too. The realization that Wee’git is his father and the discovery of his inherited powers do not inspire Jared to explore his culture, even though these facts make him supernaturally Native, not just Native by blood. For the Moodys, and perhaps for the Jakses, too, it is likely difficult to reconcile and embrace a part of oneself that has been the source of generational trauma and shame. The cast of characters and their complicated relationships with their Native identities reflect and validate just how nuanced and multi-faceted being Native can be.
Addiction in Dysfunctional Families
Jared’s alcoholism has an overwhelming presence in the narrative. The graphic descriptions of vomiting and withdrawal symptoms are incessant and visceral, and his blackouts create a fragmented effect on the storyline, the plot often relying on his hazy memories. His addiction is very much a product of his environment: His house is always full of partiers, and when he does spend time with his mother, they drink together. Nearly everyone close to him struggles with addiction, making it impossible for Jared to escape; Maggie is always either drunk, high, or hungover, Phil is continuously on and off of opioids (and his new wife has a drinking problem, too), Dylan frequently bothers him while drunk, and Sarah often encourages him to take psychedelics with her.
While classmates think living in a “party palace” means Jared has “got the life” (305), the ever-present addiction in Jared’s life causes damage within all his relationships. It makes him doubt the sincerity of those who love him, given their behavior and the fact that they only “make undying declarations of love and loyalty to him when they [are] half-cut or stoned out of their gourds” (213). Even though Jared knows the cause of his loved ones’ behaviors, their actions are nevertheless emotionally taxing and traumatic for him, only further pushing him toward alcohol and weed to cope.
Still, Jared retains his compassion and sense of responsibility towards his loved ones: He often finds himself taking care of his friends and even his parents. He becomes financially responsible for his father and has the heartbreaking realization that he is “a distant second to whatever [Maggie] was using” (200). As much as he resents being taken advantage of, addiction in families presents cycles of impossible choices:
He wanted to believe his mom was sorry, but his dad was always sorry and he still kept doing crap he had to say sorry for. He didn’t want to be a sucker, but he didn’t want to be alone. Everything ached and all the choices felt wrong (202).
Even when Jwa’sins helps Jared make the right choice for himself to finally get sober, that sobriety comes at a steep cost to Jared: It alienates him from everyone at school except for George and triggers Maggie to become resentful and violent with him. Son of a Trickster is a work of magical realism, but Robinson addresses addiction as a brutal reality; trauma, pain, compassion, and love can all intricately coexist in families that struggle with addiction, and the physical and emotional damage cannot be easily or magically mended.
