Okay for Now

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Cycle of Abuse

This novel reads like a warning about the dangerous ways abuse can become a never-ending cycle. The Swieteck family provides a shining example of how this works. Doug’s father is physically abusive, which results in Lucas being abusive, which results in Christopher being physically abusive, which almost leads to Doug being abusive. Because the chain is broken by several other positive influences, Doug is able to break the cycle. For example, Mr. Ferris assured Doug that “in this class, you are not your brother” (101).

Another way that Doug breaks the cycle of abuse is by being aware of it. On four different occasions in the book, he catches himself “sounding like Lucas,” and while it doesn’t always stop him, it often causes him to hesitate and sometimes to completely change his pace, as when he recognizes he’s bullying Lily. (16, 34, 81, 197).

Christopher’s continuation of the cycle appears in the scene where Doug’s Dad “and [his] brother laughed at” Doug for allowing his boss to pay him a week late when he first started working at the grocer’s (56). Christopher, however, is also aware of the cycle which is evidenced in the scene where Christopher tells his mother that “[j]ust because Lucas” was a thief doesn’t mean that he is (137). His awareness is even more powerfully conveyed in the scene where he tells Doug, “Am I going to be like him? Or am I already like him? And then you get angrier, because maybe you are” (180). Here, Chris is clearly aware of the way the cycle of abuse has trickled into his life and, like Doug, is aware that by confronting it, he will better be able to stop it.

Prejudice Against the Poor

Class struggle is a vehement issue in contemporary America, and this novel puts a spotlight on the ways society deems the lower classes as unfit or unworthy. The idea that someone’s class determines their personality and their worth can be seen in the following description of one of Audubon’s drawings: “The Yellow Shank wasn’t the first thing you saw. You saw his world first” (173). In other words, people are not seen as individuals at first, but as representations of their class.

Doug experiences prejudice because of his socioeconomic class all throughout the novel. One of the first instances of this is when Lil refers to Doug as a “skinny thug” when she first meets him (30). Later on she also tells Doug that “I told my father that whoever robbed the store, it wasn’t you, even though he thought it might be,” implying that just because Doug was from the same low-class family as Christopher, her father thought that he could be as equally guilty (95).

It’s the librarian, Mrs. Merriman, however, who best exhibits this type of prejudice. Mrs. Merriman’s comment that Doug should stop sitting on the library steps “especially because you might get in the way of others who want to use them” implies that he lacks value in comparison with the other more well kempt, well-to-do patrons (34). The class division between her and Doug is also reflected in Doug’s thinking that “I wasn’t worthy of Her Majesty’s attention,” a thought he had after Mrs. Merriman ignored him as he entered the library (55).

One of the most poignant moments in the novel is when Doug starts to realize he has been a victim of class prejudice. After learning to read late in life, he wonders, “How come no one ever told me this stuff?” (129). The moment serves as a clear reminder of the ways in which lower socioeconomic classes have traditionally been refused the privilege of a thorough education.

The Cost of Alcoholism

While there is only one alcoholic in this story—Doug’s father—every member of his family suffers the consequences. This novel helps draw attention to how the cost of alcoholism extends way beyond the individual alcoholic and instead effects everyone connected to them.

Doug’s father’s drinking habit fuels the loss of his job, and even though he finds another job quickly, it does not pay nearly as much as his previous job. The loss of his job also leads to the loss of his home. While these losses certainly affect him, they also affect his whole family. Doug’s mother has to give up her garden, Doug has to give up his friends, and all the sons are forced to forego personal space. Everyone in the family must give up their sense of familiarity and home because of his father’s drinking habit.

While those losses were the result of a trickle-down effect, many of the other issues Doug’s father’s drinking caused were much more immediate. On a daily basis, his mother was to keep house and raise the children while his father was off at “the bars, being gone all night” (6). His drinking caused a deficit in his funds, so he made Doug hand over his hard-earned money to him, as well as stole Doug’s one-hundred-dollar reward he received after winning the company trivia contest. He also stole the signed baseball Doug won, but luckily, Christopher retrieved it for him, adding knowingly that “Drunks keep everything they want to hide in their cars” (181).

Perhaps the most lasting and immediate effect of Doug’s father’s drinking problem is Doug’s tattoo, which reads “Mama’s Baby.” Having ditched Doug on his birthday for a night of drinking, he came home to Doug’s upset mother. Her tears turned into Doug’s tears, however, when Doug’s drunk father dragged him out of bed and drove him to a tattoo parlor, where Doug was forcibly tattooed with this mocking label. The trauma from that experience may well be even more permanent than Doug’s tattoo. While Doug’s father certainly encounters his fair share of suffering, this book is a heavy reminder of how much deeper the toll often goes.