The Shape of Thunder

“Grams should know I didn’t invite Quinn. I haven’t talked to her since that day. The day Mabel died. November 11.”

Cora and Quinn’s strained relationship is established and the circumstance of Mabel’s death is revealed as the reason for their falling out. This alludes to the reader’s discovery that Quinn’s brother, Parker, murdered Cora’s sister, Mabel. Grief and Guilt After the Loss of A Sibling is alluded to as an important theme. Furthermore, their relationship repair is foreshadowed.

“I blink away the tears before Dad can see them. I have to be strong for him. I’m the only Hamed girl left.”

Grief and Guilt After the Loss of A Sibling is highlighted as Cora feels survivor’s guilt that she is alive, while her sister, Mabel is not. Furthermore, she feels pressure to mitigate her father’s grief through managing her own outward expression of grief. The suffering of the Hamed family after Mabel’s death is illustrated in this exchange.

“Now none of those kids talk to me. They talk about me, sure. But they don’t talk to me.”

Quinn has become a social pariah since the actions of her brother, Parker, who murdered three people before killing himself. Quinn’s isolation is emphasized. This isolation further exacerbates her grief over Parker’s actions and death.

“Whenever I think of Parker, I end up missing him so much that I feel sick. I feel sick because what kind of person misses someone who did what Parker did. And then my sickness turns to anger, an anger so hot that I feel like I could spit lava. When my anger gets that hot, I go back to thinking about my plan. And boom. Bright spot. The lava cools down.”

Quinn’s plan to time travel back to before the shooting to prevent Parker from murdering three people and committing suicide allows her to manage her overwhelming grief and guilt. Jasmine Warga illustrates Healing Through Human Connection and Hope and although Quinn’s hope is false, it helps her to manage her overwhelming feelings, and is therefore constructive.

“And my brother came. He climbed the tree. Slowly. And slowly again, he helped me down. I squeezed his hand the whole way. And when my feet touched the ground, I saw tears in his eyes.”

In this memory, Parker is characterized as a kind and loving brother who helps Quinn and is overwhelmed with emotion at the idea of her hurting herself. Parker is a multifaceted character rather than purely villainous. Parker’s actions demonstrate that some radicalized young people who enact violence on others are themselves victims.

“While Mom quit her job, Dad seems to spend as much time as he can at work.”

The McCauleys avoid the overwhelming grief and distress of addressing Parker’s crimes and death. Quinn’s mom does this by throwing herself into cooking, while Quinn’s dad spends more time at work. Their avoidance of difficult issues is a recurring motif that contributes to Quinn’s difficulties in accepting and healing from her brother’s actions and death.

“‘But if we work together to change what happened, it’s not really like you’re …’ Quinn shakes her head and tries again. ‘It’s not like you’re really hanging out with me or that you’ve forgiven me. It’s because you want to help Mabel.’”

The time travel scheme becomes a way for Cora and Quinn to begin spending time together again. Cora is absolved of feelings of guilt because she is only spending time with a member of the McCauley family to save Mabel. Their scheme allows them to enjoy the healing powers of loving friendship, which connects to the theme of Healing Through Human Connection and Hope.

“‘Is Coach P. talking to you? Japan isn’t even in the Middle East, that’s ridiculous.’ ‘He probably meant Cora, but it’s ridiculous either way.’”

Warga critiques the racist generalizations of Cora’s teacher, who suggests that Cora should know about the Middle East because of her dad’s Lebanese ethnicity. This is an unreasonable generalization as the Middle East is composed of many ethnically distinct countries. Warga connects more subtle instances of racism with violent racist actions.

“The first time you called Cora’s Dad a ‘nasty foreigner’ I froze. I wanted to think that you were kidding. But you weren’t kidding.”

Parker’s radicalization to sexist and racist belief systems is alluded to and that these beliefs motivated his attack on his teacher and fellow students. Warga uses Parker to make connections to racially motivated instances of violence in schools. Violence Motivated by Racism is illustrated as an important theme in Quinn’s reflection.

“I try to curb the panic building inside of me by reminding myself that it’s only a drill, but it doesn’t work.”

Quinn’s trauma from Parker’s actions is clear in her panic. Warga reminds readers of the real experience of fear and panic that young people in American schools threatened by gun violence would experience.

“I swear there’s a halo of light on the floor of the library. A wormhole.”

It is telling that in this moment of fear and panic, Quinn imagines that she sees a wormhole. The function of Quinn’s hope that she can time travel is explored and it provides hope in moments of grief, fear, and hopelessness. Healing Through Human Connection and Hope is alluded to here.

“‘Cora,’ he says again. ‘Come on. It’s only a drill, okay?’ Hot tears prick at my eyes. ‘But it’s not always a drill. Sometimes it’s real.’”

Cora’s distress is understandable, given Mabel’s death in a school shooting. Once again, Warga invites readers to consider the retraumatizing effect that lockdown drills would have on school students whose lives have been touched by gun violence.

“His computer is missing because the police took it.”

It is implied that Parker spent time engaging with online groups that espoused violence and hatred. Warga highlights the dangers of unsupervised internet browsing for disenfranchised and isolated individuals, particularly children, who are looking for identity and belief systems online.

“The question I should’ve been asking is whether or not we can travel back in time to prevent Parker from hurting everyone, including himself.”

Cora illustrates her innate kindness by expressing a desire for Parker to be saved, even though Parker killed Mabel. Quinn no longer feels isolated in her grief for Parker when Cora includes a desire to save Parker in their time travel experiment. This emphasizes the way that human connection can allow individuals solace from immense grief.

“When white boys like Parker commit a violent crime, everyone tries to figure out why they did it. But when a Black or brown kid does something like that, no one asks more questions.”

Cora problematizes the media’s representation of children of color as inherently criminal, as opposed to white perpetrators for whom an agenda or motivation must be discovered. This connects to the theme Racially Motivated Violence, as Warga draws connection between societal racism and individual acts of violent racism.

“My missing sometimes makes me feel like the loneliest person in the world.”

Cora feels isolated by the intensity of her grief for Mabel. The importance of maintaining human connection through times of intense grief is alluded to.

“Every time I think about you and what you did, I want to cry, but I try not to let myself. The pain goes away a little when I cry. And I know I deserve to feel the hurt.”

For both girls, their grief goes hand in hand with immense feelings of guilt. Quinn is trapped in the intensity of her grief for Parker by her guilt for not having stopped Parker. This makes her believe that she deserves to be in pain.

“‘Dad.’ I did something wrong. I saw Parker with the guns. I knew. ‘Dad, I-I-I.’ I try to tell him again, but I can’t make the words come out. ‘It’s okay. I know it’s hard to talk about.’ He looks back at the TV. I wait for a while, but he doesn’t turn around again.”

Quinn’s father turns to the television rather than talking to her more about her feelings of distress, confusion, and isolation about Parker. Warga critiques the McCauley’s reluctance to have difficult conversations. She connects this inability to Parker’s radicalization and to Quinn’s struggle and isolation with her feelings of grief and guilt.

“I shrug. ‘I’m able to focus today.’ What I don’t say is that I’m this close to saving my sister—that I’m about to find a wormhole and save everything.”

Although Cora’s dream of time travel is unrealistic, focusing on this brings reprieve from her grief through hope. Her focus on this plan illustrates the novel’s theme of Healing Through Human Connection and Hope.

“Before I realize what I’m doing, I’ve walked over to Quinn. I hug her tightly. My eyes are blurry with tears. ‘And I’ve missed you so much, too.’”

Healing Through Human Connection and Hope is elucidated in Cora and Quinn’s joy in having each other back in their lives. The role of Cora and Quinn’s time travel plan is to provide hope and companionship in a time of grief and loss. As Cora’s father later articulates, the plan works even though it doesn’t work, because it gives the girls their friendship when they need it most.

“Mabel’s death feels more real to me in this moment than it ever has.”

The failure of the time travel plan forces Cora to confront the reality and permanence of Mabel’s death. Although this realization brings further grief, it also brings a sense of closure for Cora, which is an important part of her grieving journey.

“I think it’s possible for me to love you and never excuse or forgive what you did. I didn’t think that was possible before, but I’m choosing to believe that it is now.”

Quinn’s progress toward healing is evident in her decision to accept the nuanced and confusing reality of Parker’s duality. Previously, she felt cognitive dissonance and guilt when she acknowledged her love for her brother. Her maturity as well as her progress through her healing journey is evident when she comes to the realization that she can both hate and love Parker at the same time.

“She scatters a packet of violet seeds while I bury my letter.”

The symbolic act of Quinn burying her final letter to Parker in the same place as Cora plants violet seeds for Mabel illustrates the girls’ desire to continue to process their feelings and grief and loss together, and to support each other in this process through their friendship. In this symbolic choice, Warga emphasizes the importance of Healing Through Human Connection and Hope, a recurring theme throughout The Shape of Thunder.