55 pages • 1 hour read
Kristina McMorrisSold on a Monday
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A 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
The Photograph of Children for Sale
Ellis’s photograph of the two brothers on the porch with a for-sale sign is a symbol of the despair in the Great Depression, how difficult the times were for families, and especially for children who had no voice in their predicament. But the picture that Ellis faked with the Dillards in order to advance his own career becomes a symbol for the poor choice that he made and his quest to undo the consequences of that choice for himself and for the family.
Ellis’s Model-T
Ellis’s car is a symbol of his desire to be a good reporter and for the success that it will bring to him. His Model-T is an old, used car. The car’s loud engine noise is used in the story to help to demonstrate drowning out Ellis’s guilty conscience, as a signature for Ellis in that Lily knows he is coming because she can hear the car first, and as part of the action because it is the getaway car.
The Model-T is also a link to Ellis’s father, so it symbolizes their bond, even though it is a bond that Ellis shatters when he tells his father that he no longer wants to work on the car. Working on the car, getting parts, was a job that he shared with his father.
Lily’s Green Folder
Lily’s green folder contains clippings from when she worked for her high school bulletin, what would now be called the school newspaper. The folder is old and ripping around the edges, which in and of itself symbolizes how long Lily has been carrying it around with her and its importance to her. The folder holds not only a selection of the essays and articles, it symbolizes her hopes and dreams: her hope of one day becoming a reporter like her idol Nellie Bly and her dream of one day making a living as a reporter and bringing her son Samuel to live with her full time.
In the story, Lily’s green folder is dusted off when she first learns that a senior reporter might be retiring. She pulls out the folder, which is hidden in her desk underneath her office supplies. She brought it with her when she first came to the city to show during her interviews, but soon learned that all a woman could expect was a job as a secretary.
Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House
This book gives Lily the strength to make a decision to continue on with her career. And safe in the knowledge that she needs to pursue her career. She pulls out this book to give her the confidence she needs to defy her mother and break it off with Clayton.
