79 pages • 2 hours read
Susin NielsenWe Are All Made of Molecules
Fiction | Novel | YA | 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. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Fashion Focus
An emphasis on fashion relates to the theme of Exclusionary Social Hierarchy. Ashley is acutely aware of how she dresses and criticizes the clothing choices of nearly everyone around her. When her mother wants to punish her for misbehaving toward the Inksters, Caroline withholds Ashley’s allowance. Since the money was earmarked to buy a fashionable skirt, this particular form of discipline really hits home.
Ashley focuses on fashion for a good reason. Dress signals social status both within the school and outer world. Ashley confers value on anyone who can meet her rigorous fashion expectations, regardless of their other qualities. She is infatuated with Jared, partly because he dresses well. Her attachment to her father is partially based on his impeccable taste in clothing. Although she wants to freeze out Phil’s new boyfriend, Michael, Ashley secretly admires his excellent wardrobe. When Michael wants to break down Ashley’s resistance, he invites her to attend a private high-fashion clothing sale. This is a kind of bait that Ashley can’t resist.
While fashion confers status, the absence of clothing is a means to humiliate someone. Jared threatens to pull off Stewart’s pants and underwear before Stewart enters the gym showers. Stewart protects himself by donning a wrestling uniform. Jared’s own fixation on clothing and its absence takes a new twist when he tries to take pictures of Ashley in her underwear. If high fashion is a form of armor that signals the wearer’s superiority, a lack of clothing creates vulnerability. Stewart takes revenge on Jared by using clothing as a weapon. When he pulls down Jared’s underwear during a basketball game, he inflicts maximum damage.
Mrs. Inkster’s Afghan
During her final months, Mrs. Inkster spent many hours curled up beneath a brown and orange afghan. The afghan appears at many points in the story and relates to the theme of Inclusive Molecules. When the Inksters put all their belongings in storage, Stewart fears that he is losing physical contact with his mother’s remaining molecules, and sits beneath her afghan nightly. The afghan reveals Stewart and Ashley’s different values; Ashley regards the afghan with horror. To her, it is ugly, and nobody with any sense would drape such a blanket around them. She sees the afghan simply as a fashion accessory. Stewart sees it as his sole remaining connection to his mother.
The afghan also functions as a plot device to attract Ashley’s interest when she finds Stewart sitting underneath it. Her question about this odd practice allows Stewart to explain to Ashley and the reader his molecular theory of interconnectedness. After Schrödinger goes missing, Stewart spends even more time under the afghan, prompting Ashley to try separating him from it. The afghan once again provides the pretext for Stewart to articulate his opinion of Ashley. Enraged by her comments about the afghan, he launches into a diatribe that makes her question her own behavior for the first time:
“‘You call my afghan stupid? My afghan is a genius compared to you! None of this, none of this, would have happened if you hadn’t been such a complete and utter moron!’” (219).
Although Stewart is usually a peacemaker, Ashley’s refusal to value his afghan or understand his emotional attachment to it sends him over the edge. His hurtful comments pull Ashley out of her self-absorbed state
Schrödinger the Cat
Stewart’s cat Schrödinger is a symbol relating to the Shape of a Family. Schrödinger offers emotional support to people in the household when they need it most. Initially, Stewart depends on Schrödinger to fill the gap in his heart left by the loss of his mother. After Ashley’s former friends reject her, Schrödinger curls up in her lap. He is now willing to give her the same emotional comfort that he previously gave to Stewart.
Stewart’s therapist wisely points out that Schrödinger represents a familial bond. Losing the cat is like losing his mother all over again. If Schrödinger is the glue that connects Stewart to his mother, he also becomes the bonding agent that eventually connects Stewart to Ashley. Both teens feel affection for the cat, and both suffer regret when he goes missing. Circulating flyers in the neighborhood brings Stewart, Phil, and Ashley together. This is the first time that Ashely cooperates with the other two and tries to help them. It is Ashley who hears the cat meowing inside a nearby garage. Stewart and Ashley cry with relief, cementing their emotional bond with one another. As if to acknowledge the important role that Schrödinger has played in uniting everyone, Stewart includes the cat in his revised octagon diagram that lists all the members of his extended family.
