68 pages • 2 hours read
Elise BroachMasterpiece
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Art
Art is a symbol of love and friendship in Masterpiece. This symbol is first presented in Chapter 3, during James’s birthday, when Karl gifts James the pen and ink set. Karl’s gift, which is related to Karl’s interests, is a representation of the love he has for his son. He wants to share his passion with him. Art as a gift comes up again shortly after, when Marvin creates his first drawing as a gift for James. Marvin explains his decision to create to his family, saying “I wanted to do something for James, because his birthday party was so awful” (43). This gesture from Marvin is the beginning of his and James’s friendship, which only grows stronger as the novel progresses.
The creation of art also becomes an exercise in friendship. When James agrees to copy Fortitude, he knows Marvin will be up for it, leading to a dynamic between them where Marvin is able to create works of art while James takes credit for them to protect Marvin. The creation of the artwork requires teamwork, as James needs to help Marvin open the ink and obtain the paper, and Marvin needs to create the art. This process of collaboration mirrors the bond that James and Marvin share. James describes it best when he discovers Marvin’s first drawing, saying “It’s like we’re a team” (34).
Art as a symbol of love and friendship returns at the novel’s end, when Marvin discovers that James has gifted Marvin a bottlecap full of ink for Marvin to use on his own. This gift echoes when Karl gave James the pen and ink set and reflects the love that James has for Marvin as a friend. James tells Marvin “And when you need more ink, just leave the cap out in the cupboard and I’ll refill it” (284), showing James’s commitment to his friendship and his understanding of Marvin’s needs. In the final chapter, Marvin compares great art to great friendship, saying they both take “time and attention, and a spark of something that was impossible to describe” (287), creating a direct link between the two concepts.
Size
Because Marvin is a beetle, the motif of size plays a key role in expressing the themes of friendship and fortitude. The size differences between Marvin and the human world he interacts with are a consistent source of conflict, influencing much of Marvin’s life and decisions. Marvin and the rest of the beetles exist as small creatures in a large world. For dinner, they eat dropped scraps of human food. For shelter, they hide in holes and under trinkets. They are in constant danger of being stepped on or eaten by larger creatures, as mentioned in the story of Uncle George’s death, and as seen with Marvin and Elaine’s trip to the turtle tank. Marvin’s size creates unique problems for him as a protagonist unable to communicate verbally with the book’s second protagonist, James.
Marvin finds unique solutions to these problems. When Marvin discovers that Denny is the thief, he needs to tell James where to find the drawings. Marvin uses his entire body weight to remove the address label from Denny’s newspaper and secures it to himself with one of Denny’s hairs. This clever move allows him to tell James exactly where to look for the drawings, but it comes at the cost of Marvin’s ability to move efficiently, particularly when he must rush to hitch a ride back to the museum on Denny’s jacket. The problems presented by Marvin’s size force him to act courageously to save the drawings, reinforcing the novel’s theme of fortitude.
Later, once he has returned to Christina’s office, Marvin must find a way to get James’s attention without being stepped on or swatted at. Marvin uses a thumbtack that he’d previously stashed away to poke James in the ankle and get James to notice him. This unconventional method of communication leads James to notice Marvin and excuse himself so that he and Marvin can communicate in private, which resulted in James discovering the address label and leaving the museum to rescue the drawings. Marvin’s decision to poke James comes from a place of trust, knowing James wouldn’t swat at something without looking first. However, danger prevails in the back of Marvin’s head, leading him to “[release] a long breath” when James notices him (222). Marvin trusts James will protect him from there, reinforcing the theme of friendship.
Denny’s Briefcase
Denny’s briefcase symbolizes the idea of truth. When Christina introduces James and Marvin to Dürer’s work, she talks about the truth found within them: “In truth, beauty…in beauty, truth” (76). Later, when Dürer’s works are found stored away, they are protected in Denny’s briefcase. Because Marvin cannot communicate with James verbally, he relies on James’s attention to detail and ability to read to deduce the truth of who stole the drawings. Denny’s briefcase holds hints about Denny’s identity: the initials on the top of the briefcase belong to Denny, and the museum Denny works at is the same as the logo on the side of the briefcase. Through examining the briefcase, James learns the truth about the identity of the art thief. James then delivers this briefcase, along with the information he’s gathered, to Christina and Karl. As James hands the briefcase over, he tells them the truth about who is behind the theft, allowing the briefcase to stand for truth. The fact that the briefcase houses Dürer’s Virtues, which Christina has linked to truth, reinforces the symbolism of the briefcase.
