39 pages • 1 hour read
Sharon M. DraperTears of a Tiger
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1994A 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 Impact of Grief and Guilt
After the details of the car crash itself are described, the aftermath of Andy’s grieving process and steadily worsening psychological state become the central aspects of the plot as the boy is compelled to try to find some way to maintain the illusion of carrying on. Internally, however, he remains absolutely devastated by a deadly combination of grief and guilt. Unfortunately, this struggle will ultimately claim his life when he succumbs to his depression and dies by suicide. Well before that point, however, Sharon M. Draper illustrates a myriad of lost opportunities for others to effectively intervene in his decline and provide him with a much needed lifeline. Although he does receive some measure of support from those around him, it is not enough, and thus, Draper strives to emphasize the true depth of psychological crises like the one that Andy unsuccessfully attempts to navigate. Given his own inescapable culpability in Robbie’s death, acknowledging his grief in his therapy sessions only addresses half the problem. He does acknowledge his grief, but nobody can alleviate his guilt, and this will prove to be his downfall.
In the midst of his struggle to heal, Andy reaches out to others in an attempt to connect. While Andy’s own healing process will ultimately be unsuccessful, this aspect of the novel does work to show the importance of having a support system in place to help navigate emotional and psychological issues that are simply impossible to overcome alone. At the same time, Andy’s attempts to reach out also demonstrate just how profoundly a support system can fall short of the help needed. For example, after the first basketball game following the accident, Andy talks to Coach Ripley about Robbie and about his own recovery. At this point, the coach’s well-meaning compliment that Andy holds the team together falls flat in the boy’s view of things, for as Andy replies, “I don’t see how. I’m not even holdin’ myself together very well” (40). This quotation makes it abundantly clear that Andy’s outward show of strength and resilience is just an illusion, a performance. Andy believes that in order to help others, he must pretend to have everything together and show no vulnerability. Yet even in this moment when he chooses to show his true vulnerability to his coach, the only advice that his mentor can offer is to encourage him to cry if he needs to. While the coach may mean well, such an ineffectual comment also demonstrates his unwillingness to truly engage with Andy and address his grief head-on, and this reluctance on the part of Andy’s so-called “support system” does nothing to ameliorate his growing thoughts of suicide. This reluctance is further illustrated in his girlfriend’s decision to abandon him entirely because his grief and depression have become too much for her to handle. Though Keisha and Andy’s other friends want to support him in his grief, he does not let them, nor do they know the best ways to support him. The chasm between Andy and his support system grows until he stands alone, which causes his mental health to spiral out of control.
In an attempt to emphasize the profound impact of Andy’s grief and guilt upon his psyche and rapidly deteriorating mental health, Draper utilizes the unconventional tactic of personifying Andy’s grief through the voice of the dream version of Robbie. She also allows his grief to become an actual character within the structure of the novel. With this stylistic choice, Draper achieves multiple effects simultaneously, for not only do “Robbie’s” exhortations for Andy to join him in death add suspense and tension to the plot, but such evidence of Andy’s own suicidal ideation reinforces the increasingly dire state of his own mental health and illustrates that even in real life, teenagers in similar situations should never be left to attempt to heal on their own. As the situation continues to develop, the dream-Robbie levels forceful accusations at Andy, stating, “You killed me. And now you gotta come and keep me company” (101). The surreal aspects of this scene further reflect Andy’s torment and make it abundantly clear that the people in his life must rapidly intervene if Andy’s own life is to be saved, for the dream illustrates that Andy genuinely believes that he deserves to be dead.
Recognizing a Mental Health Crisis
By describing Andy’s losing battle with his growing thoughts of suicide, Draper’s true goal is to emphasize that real people struggle with identical thoughts every day, and their struggles are often entirely invisible to those around them. She warns that it can be easy to miss the signs of suicidal ideation and provides key examples for what these signs may look like. In this way, she attempts to provide her readers with practical advice and immediately applicable information on how to identify and help someone who is suffering from a similar form of psychological distress. Most importantly, she uses Andy and his friends to represent a troubled support system and models ways that people can both help and hurt. A prime example of a crucial moment that goes unrecognized occurs when Andy approaches his mother and attempts to articulate his nearly unfathomable feelings of drowning in guilt and pain. When talking to his mother, he compares his feelings of drowning emotionally to the time when he nearly physically drowned. He states:
It was so dark and I couldn’t see, and I was under the water, so I couldn’t breathe. I tried to scream, but water got into my mouth and my throat and my chest. I was cryin’ out for help, but my cries only made things worse. That’s how I feel tonight, Mom. That’s exactly how I feel tonight (139).
However, although Andy valiantly attempts to communicate the depths of his distress, his mother fails recognize Andy’s cries for help for what they truly are, and her reluctance to discuss death in any meaningful way ultimately leaves her son drowning; no meaningful communication is achieved, and just like the rest of Andy’s support system, his mother prefers to avoid the topic of death entirely. This illustrates yet another example of a behavioral pattern that Andy frequently encounters in the midst of his struggles, for everyone believes that his fixation on death is morbid and denies him a space to openly discuss his thoughts about death. While Dr. Carrothers does attempt to hold this space for Andy, it is not enough to pull him out of his downward spiral. Thus, through Andy’s mother and other characters who prove equally uncomfortable with death, Draper warns people not to shy away from difficult topics in similar situations, for doing so may result in missing someone’s cry for help. As the novel develops, Andy’s focus on death consumes him. The novel shows that Andy’s suicidal thoughts became so strong—not because of a weakness on his part—but because of the lack of a dedicated support system around him. As the boy himself states, “[It] seems like bein’ dead is the only way I’ll ever feel alive again” (92). Such a bald statement expresses Andy’s distinct fixation on thoughts of suicide and should serve as an immediate red flag that greater intervention is desperately needed.
In Andy’s last moments, he once again verbalizes what he is feeling, using figurative language to compare his sense of apathy to being literally empty or having frozen guts. As he detachedly states, “I’m a little cold now—now that I think about it—cold inside, like there’s nothin’ there, or like my guts are frozen” (164). Rather than stating his internal struggles in plain terms, Andy resorts to expressing himself through metaphors, similes, and allegories because these indirect methods are the closest he can come to articulating his complicated and anguished emotions. Ultimately, his attempts to advocate for greater help fail, as those around him do not recognize the true depths of his mental health crisis.
The Harm of Societal Racism
In addition to suffering from universal symptoms of grief and guilt, Andy finds his struggles infinitely compounded by the ongoing issues of societal racism. Andy first discusses his experiences with racism with Dr. Carrothers, relating an incident in which he experienced nonverbal racism upon perusing the items in a store; in his words, the salespeople “never take their eyes off you, like you gonna steal somethin’ with the Bells of St. Mary’s connected to it” (72). He also notices just how markedly this suspicious treatment differs from the greater sense of trust and respect that those same salespeople show to his white friends in the same situation, saying, “Sure, they watch ’em, but they relax a little and stay behind the counter” (72). In addition to the blatant injustice of the situation, the bitterness of Andy’s tone conveys his deep frustration at the level of scrutiny and fear he and other Black people receive from store clerks and salespeople on a regular basis. As Dr. Carrothers confirms, this is unfortunately a common experience.
While enduring evidence of societal racism in town is difficult enough, the same toxic dynamics also have a direct effect on the quality of Andy’s support system as he continues to suffer and grieve internally. For example, even Andy’s school system and teachers are deeply biased against Black people, and this ingrained racism ultimately contributes to depriving Andy of the in-depth counseling and empathy that he so desperately needs. In Chapter 30, for example, the teachers discuss Andy’s performance and his recovery from the accident, and their conversation soon makes it clear that not only do they succumb to racist views of Black students’ response to trauma, but they also betray their willingness to blindly accept Andy’s performance of mental stability at face value rather than taking the time to engage with him on a more meaningful level. Instead of brainstorming the various ways in which they might extend him some extra support, they simply assume he is doing well because “Black kids are tough. They see a lot in life that we never experience. […] A white kid would have cracked under the pressure that Andy went through” (127). Thus, they blatantly ignore Andy’s worsening trauma and accept the perception that he wants everyone to believe because it fits within their racist worldview.
Andy and his friends challenge systemic racial biases in English class, calling out symbolic uses of the colors black and white. When discussing the poem “One Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty-Eight Winters” (by Jaci Earley), Keisha says that she “likes the poem. All of us at one time or another feels like a cinder among the snowflakes You stand out when you just want to blend in; you get noticed whether you want to or not” (84). It is important to note that with this analysis, Keisha does not look solely at the color of a person’s skin. She also examines the many ways in which people stand out from each other, such as with sex, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. While others try to look at narrow experiences, Keisha and her friends try to look at the bigger picture and position themselves within the broader world around them in an attempt to transcend limiting concepts such as racism. While explaining their individual experiences, they are still part of the larger world.
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By Sharon M. Draper
