Juliet Takes a Breath

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “Bienvenidos a Miami. The World is Yours”

Part 3, Chapter 18 Summary: “Queer ABCs and 123s”

In Miami, Titi Penny expresses that Juliet’s mother didn’t even know that Juliet was visiting them and that she needed to call her and explain. Juliet calls her mother, and her mother reprimands her harshly for being disrespectful. After the call, Juliet tells her cousin Ava and Titi Penny about her hardships in Portland, particularly around Lainie and Harlowe’s hidden racism. Ava tells Juliet that she is going to teach her more about queer words while she is in Miami so that Juliet isn’t so clueless when she returns to Portland. Titi Penny tells Juliet they need to “discuss the importance of naming racism when it comes to you unexpectedly in the form of a mentor, a lover, or someone who exists in the gray areas” (222). Juliet and Ava talk for a long time about gender pronouns, trans people, and other things that Juliet doesn’t fully understand.

Part 3, Chapter 19 Summary: “Love in the Time of a Bronx Tale”

The next morning, Juliet finds an email in her inbox from Harlowe. In the email, Harlowe apologizes and signs it “the fucked-up white lady that’s trying to live an anti-racist, pro-woman, feminist life that loves you something fierce” (228). Juliet responds, letting Harlowe know when she is returning, and signing it “Juliet, the kid just trying to live right” (228). Ava, Juliet’s cousin, gives her a list of feminist books to read, and Juliet promises to read them. Later in the day, Juliet asks Titi Penny about the girlfriend she had before she met Uncle Lenny. Titi Penny reveals that she was in love with a woman named Magdalena for a summer before she met Uncle Lenny, and Titi Penny and Ava celebrate how they are both bisexual. While getting ready for a queer party called Clipper Queerz, Juliet contemplates if she loves Harlowe or if it’s a “hate-love” (236).

Part 3, Chapter 20 Summary: “Undercuts and Transformation”

At the Clipper Queerz party, Juliet meets a lot of Ava’s friends, including Ava’s crush, Luz Angel. Being surrounded by so many accepting queer people, Juliet realizes that she’s been “so busy trying to be what [Lainie and her mother] wanted [her] to be that [she] wasn’t exploring and elevating [her] own divine feminine energy” (244). Juliet then gets a shaved haircut from someone she calls Blue Lips and loves it. Later, Juliet, Ava, and their friends go swimming in the pool at the party, and Juliet kisses Blue Lips. On the way back to Titi Penny’s house, she leaves a voicemail on her ex-girlfriend Lainie’s phone telling her that their breakup is okay and that she wouldn’t have been able to experience tonight if they were together.

Part 3 Analysis

Going to Miami to visit Ava reminds Juliet that she is loved and accepted by her family, even if that acceptance is not always the way she wants it to be. Although Juliet’s relationships with the important women in her life are complicated, her family is always there when she needs them. The visit is also a reminder to Juliet that Harlowe is not the only person she can trust to educate her because her cousin Ava also knows a lot about queer and feminist culture and is ready to share those teachings with Juliet. Juliet learns that there are many different ways to be feminist and queer and that she needs to educate herself more, and not just by reading one book or listening to one person.

Juliet’s need for multiple mentors and supportive voices becomes especially evident when Titi Penny reveals that she is bisexual. Juliet is not the first person in her family to be queer and this changes Juliet’s perspective on the kind of love her family gives her. While Juliet’s mother still struggles to accept her, she now knows that “she never turned her back on [Titi Penny]” while she was in love with a woman (232). This bolsters Juliet’s love of her mother and love of herself because she now knows that her mother’s love is unconditional, even if she is not the most understanding when it comes to Juliet’s orientation.

At the Clipper Queerz party, Juliet’s transformation into being a self-loving lesbian is complete when she shaves off some of her hair. Before, she was nervous about looking too stereotypically gay, but by the end of the cut, Juliet owns it and loves it because she is gay. Juliet’s physical transformation with her undercut hairstyle symbolizes her transformation into a more confident and self-loving person. Juliet accepts and loves herself and her call to Lainie proves that Juliet is ready to move on and live a more fulfilling life. Juliet’s decisions in this section signify that her coming-of-age character arc is nearly over—she has cut ties with her past relationship, overcome worries about her relationship with her mother, made her gay identity part of her appearance, and begun the process of educating herself more thoroughly. Juliet is becoming a new person with new values, and the final section will see her defining herself in a new way outside of Harlowe’s version of feminism.