61 pages • 2 hours read
Joyce McdonaldSwallowing Stones
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Consequences of Impulsive Actions
Through Michael’s story arc, the novel explores its main theme of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions, as Michael’s impulsive decision to shoot his brand-new rifle into the air on his birthday is what sets the novel’s events in motion. Michael’s impulsive decision has immediate consequences when it takes the life of Charlie Ward, and the fallout of this deadly decision echoes through the community, impacting everyone Michael is close to. This theme is also developed through the titular motif of swallowing stones.
When Michael first learns about the bullet that killed Charlie Ward, he first tries to find reasons it couldn’t be his, but he knows deep down that he likely fired it. Joe gives Michael a pep talk about how “there’s some things you just got to live with” (13), adding that “we got to act like nothing’s happened” (14). Joe explains Michael “can kiss off all those fancy colleges you were thinking of applying to” (12) if he were to come clean. Michael is uneasy with Joe’s suggestion, but he laments that the bullet was never supposed to go anywhere. Michael is faced with the decision between hiding his guilt or facing the consequences of his actions. Michael chooses to take Joe’s advice for most of the book, and the lying that Michael must do to continue to cover his guilt begins to tear apart his life and friendships. This includes his relationship with Darcy, from whom he’s grown distant under the weight of his guilt, and his friendship with Joe, whom Michael drags deeper and deeper into trouble.
As time goes on, Michael’s many lies to the police begin to implicate Joe as the one who shot the rifle. Every time Michael requires Joe’s help lying or delivers bad news about the investigation to Joe, it becomes harder for Michael to continue to manage his guilt. He understands the impact that his avoidance of accountability is having on his best friend, and it’s only adding to his inner turmoil and guilt. Michael’s impulsive actions and the lies he’s told to cover them rather than face his consequences develop the idea that not only do actions have consequences, but so does the avoidance of consequences.
The motif of swallowing stones develops the theme of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions, and Michael’s interpretation of this motif changes as his attempts to avoid his consequences become more dire. When Michael first recalls the story of the girl who drowned with a stone in her throat, he expresses that “if you panicked and tried to take a deep breath, it would cut off your air and you’d die. You had to make yourself swallow it” (38). Michael believes he’s “swallowing stones” as he lies and avoids people to cover up his guilt. However, at the end, he realizes that “he has been carrying the stone in his throat all this time” (240). Michael realizes that to truly swallow the stone that is drowning him, he must take accountability and face the consequences of his impulsive actions.
Through Michael’s story arc with his guilt and lies, and through the swallowing stones motif, Swallowing Stones develops the idea that even when one’s impulsive actions have unintended negative outcomes, one is still responsible for taking accountability and facing the consequences.
Grief and Denial
The theme of Grief and Denial is explored primarily through Jenna Ward’s story as she navigates the emotional aftermath of her father’s death. The novel closely links the ideas of grief and denial together to show how the two can work against one another in times of extreme grief.
In Chapter 2, Jenna “felt nothing” the first morning she wakes up without her father (20). Jenna feels like her father is just on his way to work like he is every morning when she wakes, and “at six o’clock that evening or thereabouts, he would come bounding through the front door” (22). Although Jenna is aware that her father has died, having witnessed it herself, Jenna cannot shake the denial that keeps her feeling like her father is still alive. This denial follows Jenna throughout the first 13 chapters of the book. Even weeks after her father’s funeral, Jenna found herself “waiting for her father to come home from work” (65). Jenna’s denial as an immediate response to her grief develops the idea that denial can be a coping mechanism for people experiencing extreme grief.
However, Jenna realizes this is not healthy in Chapter 13. She acknowledges that, even six weeks later, “some stubborn part of her continued to think her father was on one of his business trips, and all the logic in the world could not make Jenna stop holding on to this fantasy” (135). Despite Jenna’s attempts to logic herself out of the expectation that she’ll see her father again, she struggles to break through the cloud of denial she’s been shrouded in since the accident.
Jenna finally makes a breakthrough at the end of Chapter 13 after reading a letter from Amy. In Amy’s letter, she explains, “For weeks I didn’t even let myself cry, because that would be admitting my mom and dad weren’t going to come back” (138). Amy describes how she finally began to cry after finding a note from her mother and realizing they were really gone. Amy’s experiences with delaying her grief through denial parallel Jenna’s and show that denial is a common symptom of grief. Amy’s letter helps Jenna break through her denial and cry over the loss of her father for the first time. Jenna’s first tears over her father after reading about Amy’s grief and denial develop the idea that denial can cloud one’s ability to grieve properly, even if it hurts to accept the truth.
After Amy’s letter, Jenna begins to engage with her grief in healthier ways. She chooses to do things like reminisce about times with her father like the winter they visited the Ghost Tree. The climax of Jenna’s grief arc comes in Chapter 19 when Jenna helps her mother fold and pack Charlie’s clothing for donation. Jenna finds this act healing, and Jenna gets closure from saying “goodbye to each and every thing, because she had never gotten the chance to say it on that fateful morning” (193). Jenna’s goodbyes and acceptance of her father’s permanent absence show that she has been healing since she allowed herself to grieve properly. The shift in Jenna’s grieving journey from denial to mourning develops the idea that denial can be a natural part of grief, but engaging with denial can lead to one failing to grieve properly.
The Influence of Reputation
Two significant characters in Swallowing Stones have unsavory reputations that influence the way others react to them. Amy has a reputation for being “easy,” and many characters in the book reference this reputation or use derogatory terms to refer to Amy because of how they perceive her. Joe also has an unsavory reputation for getting in trouble. Michael is Joe’s only friend because the other kids in their grade see Joe as a troublemaker. Both Amy’s and Joe’s reputations impact how they are seen and treated by others throughout the novel, which allows the narrative to explore the way reputation can influence a person’s life.
The influence of reputation on a person’s life and relationships is explored through Amy’s interactions with Michael, Jenna, and the other characters from their high school, as well as through how these characters perceive Amy. In Chapter 1, after hooking up with Amy in the garage on his birthday, Michael observes that “Amy Ruggerio was easy, because that was what everyone said. And she had proved it, hadn’t she?” (8). Michael’s opinion of Amy comes from Amy’s reputation, so he views their tryst in his garage as evidence that she lives up to her reputation. However, Michael finds Amy strangely alluring, and the more he spends time around her, the more he comes to see she’s a deeper person than her reputation suggests. When defending his friendship with Amy to Darcy, Michael describes Amy as “one of the most decent human beings [he] know[s]” (110). Michael’s change of opinion about Amy develops the idea that reputations do not tell the full story about a person’s character.
Jenna also has opinions about Amy despite never having met her. Jenna, “like everyone else, knew [Amy’s] reputation” (88). Jenna is not “surprised to see some guy casually slip in next to her, put his arm around her as if she were his exclusive property, and let his hand slide along her thigh” (88). Jenna believes Amy has come to the theater with this guy, but she learns in the bathroom, after recovering from her panic attack with Amy’s assistance, that Amy came to the theater alone. Jenna’s misconceptions about Amy’s situation with the handsy guy develop the idea that reputation can influence the way others perceive one’s actions and company. Jenna stops letting Amy’s reputation influence her desire to reach out to Amy in Chapter 23. Jenna wants to ask Amy about Joe Sadowski but worries about what her friends at the pool will think if she approaches Amy. Jenna wonders, “Why did everyone have to treat Amy like a pariah, anyway? It was so stupid. […] She’d never been anything but kind, as far as Jenna could tell” (224). Jenna manages to push aside her concerns about Amy’s reputation, and the two have a face-to-face conversation. Jenna’s concerns about Amy’s reputation and realization that its influence is silly develop the idea that reputation does not fully represent a person, but its influence can determine how a person is seen.
Joe Sadowski is another character whose reputation impacts how he’s treated. Joe is known as a troublemaker, and Michael recalls that “most of the other kids at school had […] written Joe off back in eighth grade when he’d been caught smashing roadside mailboxes with a baseball bat at one o’clock in the morning, drunk” (13). Joe’s reputation means that Michael is one of his only friends, and many people in town see Joe as a bad kid. Joe’s reputation influences the way police perceive him during the investigation into Charlie Ward’s murder. When Michael’s lies begin to make it look like Joe is the right suspect, Joe acknowledges that the reason the police are focused on him is because he has “quite a reputation with the local powers that be” (211). Michael himself acknowledges that “most folks would think Joe is guilty anyway” (216), and “nobody would take Joe’s word over his” (218). Joe’s treatment by the police and the opinions of the people in town develop the idea that one’s reputation can influence the way one is treated in negative circumstances. By contrast, track star and popular boy Michael easily shifted the blame to Joe and took the police’s focus off himself when the pressure got too much. Joe’s reputation means he would not have been as lucky.
Overall, through characters like Amy and Joe, the novel develops the idea that reputation can negatively influence how people perceive and treat someone and impact how those around a person are viewed. The novel also conveys the idea that a person’s reputation does not give a complete picture of who a person is.
