24 Hours In Nowhere

“In the short time Rossi had lived in Nowhere, she hadn’t spoken a single word to me. I wasn’t sure she had ever even looked at me until this moment. I knew she would never give up Loretta. Not for a useless wimp like me. And I wouldn’t want her to anyway.”

At this early stage of the novel, Gus and Rossi are essentially strangers. They barely speak, and Gus can’t possibly anticipate Rossi’s deeper sense of justice—assuming, for instance, that she values her bike far more than Gus’s safety. Of course, as the novel continues, Gus and Rossi will grow close, and in comparing the novel’s end to this particular quote, the reader can appreciate just how critically their relationship evolves.

“I knew a lot of vocabulary words. Vocabulary words were just about the most important things in the world to me. And not because I found learning them to be a thrilling adventure. Vocabulary words were going to save my life.”

This quote introduces Gus’s love of vocabulary, which he often sprinkles throughout the text as a narrative enhancement. Gus also suggests that vocabulary—and, by extension, academics—will play a significant role in his quest to leave Nowhere and its limitations behind—a concept also explored in Escaping Oppressive Circumstances. Also, Gus’s facetious reference to a “thrilling adventure” subtly foreshadows the novel’s central plot, when he and his friends undertake a task beyond their wildest imagination.

“I stuck my head under it and rinsed my hair and face with warm water. I would have given anything for some cool water, but the coolest water in Nowhere was warm if you were lucky, hot if you weren’t.”

When Gus returns home from his confrontation with Bo, he hopes to wash his wounds with cold water. In literature, water is a common symbol of life, purity, and refreshment. However, in Nowhere, the water is always warm and offers almost no relief. In corrupting this classic symbol of life and refreshment, Bowling emphasizes the relentlessness of both the desert and the characters’ challenges; simply, they can’t catch a break.

“I continued thinking about ways to get Loretta back. Maybe I could be, like, some kind of minion for Bo. Lots of villains had minions. I wasn’t completely sure what being a minion entailed, but I was positive I could handle doing it. […] Yeah, I hated that idea.”

Here, Gus debates how he might win back Loretta. He briefly considers joining Bo as his “minion” and fittingly describes Bo as a “villain”—cementing Bo’s status as the novel’s primary antagonist. However, Gus ultimately decides that he could never stoop so low and brainstorms different ways to bargain. Here, as Gus rejects this idea, he reveals a defining character trait: integrity, which will serve him well on his journey.

“Before I could finish, Bo smacked my hand from underneath, and the watch went flying onto the porch. I gaped, completely helpless, as it slipped between the wide slats in the dried-up boards and disappeared. ‘You’re crazy if you think I’d trade a whole motorcycle for a piece of garbage like that, no matter what kind of fancy words you use to describe it.’”

As Gus enters another contest with Bo, Bowling emphasizes a difference in value: To Gus, the pocket watch is like a rare antique, connecting him to his ancestors, but to Bo, it’s just a piece of old junk. Throughout the novel, the characters will enter into similar discussions of value and its flexibility, especially as Rossi encourages the group to forget the gold and focus instead on their safety. Furthermore, Bo’s casual dismissal of the watch serves as a bit of irony, appreciated only in retrospect; at this point, it’s impossible to know just how centrally the watch will figure in the novel’s plot.

“Tomorrow was the important race of the summer—the race that would determine, once and for all, who the best racer in Nowhere was. Bo had won the last two summers, and Rossi had been the first person to challenge him when she showed up this year. According to the leaderboards in the motorcycle shop, whoever won tomorrow would take the summer. I knew Rossi would win if she could get Loretta back.”

In this quote, Bowling heightens the importance of the dirt-bike race, which will later serve as the novel’s major climax. Tellingly, Gus imagines that Rossi’s success is a credit to her bike and assumes that in losing her bike, she’s somehow forfeited the race. Later, Gus will revise this perspective, but here, it explains his sense of urgency; to win, Rossi needs her bike.

“Matthew and I were in second grade and he had naively handed out cheesy Valentine’s Day cards to everyone. The one he’d given me had said I’d be lion if I said you weren’t sweet and had a picture of a cartoon lion on it. He had been teased relentlessly for those cards, especially by Bo, who, even back then, was a bully.”

In this brief flashback, Gus remembers that Matthew harbors a sensitive side. Punished for this vulnerability, Matthew had joined forces with Bo, despite serving as his one-time target. Here, Gus emphasizes that despite their current association, Matthew and Bo are essentially different: Matthew was once his friend, whereas Bo has always been a bully. This difference helps explain Matthew’s later character development, when he ultimately rejects Bo in favor of Gus, Rossi, and Jessie.

“The mine smelled all of its one hundred years old—like dirt and rot and hot air that never moved. I shined the flashlight on the large wooden planks that were somehow holding the mountain up above us. Please don’t fail, I begged the century-old wood, imagining the entire mountain coming down on our heads.”

Entering the cave, Gus is struck by its old age; it even smells “all of its one hundred years old.” Indeed, as the characters journey through both the mine and the cave, they will often remember their storied history—especially the Dufort and Navarro legend, which guides them in their hunt for gold. Similarly, the mine’s decaying infrastructure lends a sense of danger to Gus’s adventure, and it’s clear just how much he’s risking to win back Rossi’s bike.

“Get off me, man. Last I heard, your great-grandpa is the one who stole the gold and shot him.”

In this quote, Matthew and Jessie tensely debate the Dufort and Navarro legend: Matthew, arguing on behalf of his great-grandfather, suggests that Navarro stole the gold, while Jessie, incensed, references the accepted history and accuses Dufort of robbing Navarro. This conflict complicates the beginning of Matthew and Jessie’s deeper relationship, and they will often blame each other for the mistakes of their forefathers, an example of Transcending Family History. However, as they debate history, Matthew and Jessie unwittingly acknowledge that history, like all things, is subject to perspective; the Dufort and Navarro legend is not written in stone but instead will evolve as the characters gather more information.

“We’re trapped and we’re going to die. We’re going to die horrible agonizing deaths. We’ll suffocate. Or we’ll starve to death.”

Following the cave’s collapse, Matthew voices the group’s fears: They’ll be trapped and die, either by suffocating or starving. In response, Gus accuses Matthew of hyperbole, but really, Matthew offers a reasonable point. In such a precarious—and unprecedented—situation, the characters face an uphill battle, and they often weigh the changing odds of their survival.

“‘Stalagmites grow up from the ground.’ Rossi held the lantern up. ‘Stalactites grow down from the ceiling.’”

As they explore the cave, the group misidentifies the rock formations that populate its landscape; Rossi, however, quickly corrects them, pointing out the subtle differences that distinguish each term. In this way, Rossi demonstrates a keen interest in, and respect for, vocabulary, similar to Gus. Together, they encourage the group to choose their words carefully.

“There are worse things than being stuck in this cave. And there are definitely worse things than not going to Breaker Bradley’s.”

Stuck in the rock crevice, Matthew argues that the perils of the cave—from falling rocks to narrow passages—aren’t nearly as worrying as his troubled home life. Though Matthew’s perspective at first seems extreme, he soon explains that his mother subjects him to physical abuse. The other characters also struggle with less-than-ideal living situations: Rossi, for instance, resents her absent father, while Gus, abandoned in Nowhere, doubts his self-worth. Compared with these struggles, the cave and its unknowns are a piece of cake.

“I took a swig of my warm pickle water, which had miraculously survived the cave-in, bats, and mountain lion. I passed it around so the others could have a drink. Then I handed out the empty, smashed Twinkies.”

After escaping the mountain lion, Gus takes stock of his supplies: warm water and smashed, filling-less Twinkies. Even though the supplies are admittedly scarce, Gus still offers everyone a ration, unwilling to create competition. With this simple but meaningful gesture, Gus emphasizes the group’s willingness to work together, no matter the cost. In this way, this scene emphasizes Conquering Challenges Through Cooperation.

“I’ll be defined by what I do in this life, not by what anyone else does to me or says about me. None of that matters. All that matters is what I do.”

Sitting on the side of the mountain, Rossi debates the concept of free will; she resents that her class should define her and resolves, instead, to carve out her own path. Here, Rossi argues that her own actions can overcome society and its preconceptions. The tension between preconceptions and self-determination is similarly evident in Transcending Family History.

“‘They probably can’t even tell the difference,’ he said, his voice tight and angry—not at all like he usually sounded. ‘All they see is a brown person in a junky car.’”

In this quote, Jessie, understandably angry, criticizes the US Border Patrol for their overt racism. This is a different side of Jessie’s character and one that catches Gus off guard; Jessie’s voice, for instance, is “not at all like he usually sound[s].” Despite Gus’s surprise, this disconnect is fitting, as Gus, a white American, can never understand the horrors of systemic racism. Instead, this discussion furthers the bond between Rossi and Jessie, as Rossi, a member of the Tohono O’odham tribe, similarly struggles against racism.

“Her face was filled with fear. I knew what she was thinking. What if we were stuck in here? Stuck in here and now Jessie was injured. And who knew how much life was left in that flashlight. Jessie was right. This was all for nothing. I could have just killed us all.”

When Gus encourages the group to follow the cave map, Jessie finds himself injured, shot in the foot by a misfired pistol. Tellingly, Gus absorbs the blame himself: “I could have just killed us all,” he says, clearly shaken. Of course, Gus is hardly justified in this perspective, as the group had decided together to pursue this new lead. In assuming responsibility, Gus underscores his tendency to self-criticize; it’s the same tendency, for instance, that led him to the cave in the first place, as he considers himself personally responsible for Rossi losing her bike.

“I swallowed, and, despite the humidity in the room, my throat felt like the dried up skeleton of a saguaro cactus. We had reached the big, dark, shaded area.”

Nervous and unsure, Gus employs a telling simile, likening his dry throat to a saguaro cactus. Though Gus often resents the desert—dreaming, for instance, of escaping Nowhere for good—he still likens his body to its landscape. In this light, it’s evident that the desert has critically shaped Gus’s self-expression.

“Fine, then. Put this on your head. But I’m holding the flashlight so I can be out front. I want to make sure there’s nothing dangerous in the water.”

As they prepare to wade across the lake, Gus offers to take the front position so that he might guide them across with the flashlight. Here, Gus not only demonstrates his bravery but also emphasizes his position as de facto leader; Gus is willing to absorb potential danger so that he might shield his friends behind him. Gus sacrifices himself later, too, when he volunteers to trek across the open desert—that is, before he notices Mayor Handsome.

“She ignored him and lifted the skull out of the water. She raised it to the level of her face, like she was saying hello. Then she turned it around so it faced Matthew. ‘Say hello to your great-grandfather.’”

Though this scene is superficially humorous—Rossi, teasing Matthew, holds up Dufort’s skull—it conveys a deeper, more philosophical meaning. In facing Matthew with his great-grandfather’s skull, Rossi encourages him to confront the past and its burden on his life, emphasizing Transcending Family History. Similarly, this scene echoes William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which the title character speaks to the skull of Yorick, a court jester. Hamlet’s speech foregrounds themes of death, aging, and the march of time. In echoing this famous scene, Bowling emphasizes the characters’ vulnerability: As they face the lake’s uncertainty, they test fate, wondering if they’ll sink or swim.

“‘No,’ Rossi said, staring at me. ‘It doesn’t.’ She smiled. ‘That’s good advice, Gus.’ I felt my cheeks grow hot, and I was glad for once that it was so dark in the cave.”

When Gus encourages Matthew to forget his great-grandfather’s deceit, Rossi applauds his advice. Though Gus sometimes tries to deny it, his flushed cheeks belie his crush on Rossi. By turning her attention to Gus, Rossi subtly suggests that the feeling might be mutual.

“Rossi looked at me, then at Jessie and Matthew. ‘Go, Rossi,’ Jessie said. ‘You need to get your bike and get to the race.’ ‘No.’ Rossi turned to Mayor Handsome. ‘Jessie needs to get to a doctor. Can you drive him back?’”

With only one seat available on Mayor Handsome’s quad, the group faces a tough choice of who deserves a ride to town. Jessie suggests that Rossi take the ride, aware that the race is starting soon. However, Rossi nobly declines Jessie’s offer and insists that he go with Handsome so that he can seek medical attention. Rossi’s choice is pivotal, and it underscores her devotion to her friends; though Rossi desperately wants to compete, she accepts that Jessie’s well-being is more important.

“I stepped forward. ‘Rossi,’ I said. ‘I know you love her, but Loretta’s a piece of junk, scrapped together with cheap parts.’ I got down on the ground with the two of them. Rossi gazed at me from under her hair. ‘It’s not the bike, Rossi; it’s you.’”

Earlier in the novel, Gus had argued that Rossi’s bike was key to her success. Here, however, he thinks otherwise, confident in Rossi’s innate skill. Not only does this quote reveal an evolution in Gus’s thinking, but it also argues the irrelevance of material objects; it’s not the bike or gear that ensures victory, it’s just Rossi.

“And in the year I was about to start eighth grade—though it wouldn’t be written in any book—on that last scorching day of summer vacation, thirteen-year-old Rossi Scott finished a race almost no one in the world knew or cared about with a sprained ankle, a dislocated thumb, and two fractured ribs.”

In the aftermath of the race, Gus appreciates Rossi’s odds-defying victory, noting her many injuries. Though Gus admits that the world is destined to overlook the race, Rossi’s feat seems likely to join the ranks of other local legends; just like Cal’s and Better Than Cal’s, Dead Frenchman Mine, and Mayor Handsome’s albino shrimp, Rossi will be a name long remembered. Perhaps children in generations to come will discuss Rossi’s victory, similar to the group’s debates about the Dufort and Navarro legend.