48 pages • 1 hour read
Eve L. Ewing, Illustr. Christine AlmedaMaya and the Robot
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A 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
Ralph
Ralph symbolizes the spirit of Christopher and his desire to help people in need. When Maya discovers him in Mr. Mac’s storage closet, Ralph fulfills needs that they both have: Maya needs a friend and a way to build her confidence, and Mr. Mac needs to reconnect with the memory of his lost son. As Maya works on restoring Ralph, she feels less alone because she recognizes herself in Christopher through his notes. Once Ralph is up and running, she also has Ralph as a companion. The process of working on him also allows her to flex her scientific muscles and boosts her confidence immensely. Mr. Mac observes this entire process and sees a lot of Christopher in Maya. This, in combination with the fact that seeing Ralph up and running again is an undeniable demonstration of his son’s ingenuity and kindness, makes Mr. Mac realize that the spirit of his son is still with everyone and reconnects him with memories he had previously been trying to repress because they were too painful.
Additionally, Ralph is designed to help people and does so all throughout the story. He helps Maya and her mom complete chores around the house and shop for groceries, he helps Mr. Mac stock shelves at his store, and he learns to translate foreign languages into English so that Mr. Mac can communicate better with everyone in the community. In his notes, Christopher details further plans he has for the things Ralph could learn to do, and all of them revolve around helping people in need. In this way, Ralph reflects the values Mr. Mac embodies and instilled in his son, and he demonstrates the way people can continue to have a positive influence even after their death.
Misinterpretation and Assumptions
As the novel explores The Difficulties of Childhood Friendship, there is a motif where nearly all of the involved characters either misinterpret or make assumptions about other people’s thoughts and feelings. Maya does this several times after she is placed in a different class than Jada and MJ. The change destabilizes her world and amplifies her insecurities, which she then projects onto her relationship with her best friends. She worries that she won’t be able to join in conversations with them and their new classmates, and she assumes they won’t be interested in hearing about Ralph. As a result, she isolates herself further by sitting alone before school and pretending to read her book.
At the end of the novel, it’s revealed that Jada and MJ misinterpreted this behavior as a sign that Maya was just busy and didn’t have time for them. Zoe Winter also misinterprets Maya’s actions during this time. Zoe actually wants to be friends with Maya and is excited for the opportunity to spend time with her now that she won’t always be with Jada and MJ, but she assumes that Maya’s reclusive behavior is because she thinks she is better than everyone else. In reality, she is just emotionally overwhelmed and confused. Once the truth is revealed and they all actually share their feelings, things are cleared up quickly. They make plans to hang out that weekend, suggesting that while it can be difficult to share feelings, doing so is an essential element of any resilient friendship.
Mr. Mac’s Store
Along with the school, Mr. Mac’s store is the most important setting in the novel and symbolizes the power of community. His store functions as a kind of community hub where everyone goes when they need something, whether that’s groceries, directions, or a simply a sense of familiarity and belonging. Because his store has everything, and because Mr. Mac is so kind and welcoming, the store can be whatever people need it to be, and it is no coincidence that the majority of the tertiary characters are introduced through the store. While Mr. Mac has a deep desire to help everyone and goes above and beyond what most people would expect—he even contemplates learning a new language so that he can better help everyone in the neighborhood—the help sometimes comes from other customers. For example, when Terrance is looking for bananas, it is Maya who steps in to help him by explaining a trick to ripen the green bananas Mr. Mac has in stock. The importance of Mr. Mac and his store to the community becomes evident towards the end of the novel when he holds a memorial service for his son, Christopher. This is a big deal for Mr. Mac, since he has spent the 10 years since his son’s death trying to avoid memories of Christopher because they were too painful. However, the entire community shows up to support him—every character that has been introduced is there, as well as many others. So many people show up that Maya “[can’t] believe that they could fit on the jam-packed sidewalk, but somehow they [did]” (141). This turnout speaks to the fact that Mr. Mac’s store is more than a place where people buy things—it is a pillar of the community and represents how deep their bonds run.
