72 pages • 2 hours read
Rodman PhilbrickZane and the Hurricane
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A 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 Importance of Family Identity
Strong family ties help share history, pass on tradition, grow cultural identity, provide emotional support, impart life lessons, and give a sense of community and belonging. All these elements inform an individual’s sense of self. In Zane and the Hurricane, characters have differing points of view about “blood” family, but all ultimately agree it is a vital presence in their lives.
Malvina believes that “blood” is the definition of family at its most essential level, but her closest blood family members are not actually blood relatives—they are Tru and Zane. Malvina chooses them as family because they have proven their loyalty and friendship to her. Their bond with Malvina is greater than her bond with her mother: Malvina’s blood family let her down. Her chosen blood family is nurturing and supportive. Malvina holds them close—they, along with her connection to her neighborhood and sense of place, help make her the strong individual she is.
Zane’s mom believes it is imperative he connect with a blood relative from his father’s side. Growing up without his father, Zane not only lacks a male role model, but he also lacks a connection to his father’s racial heritage. Both deficits are evident in Zane’s initial, self-deprecatory comment that he is a “mutt” (1). A strong father-son relationship helps build a boy’s self-esteem and confidence. Notably, Zane is self-conscious and self-critical. His support system is insular, consisting primarily of strong bonds with his mom and Bandit. Other than going to the mall with his friends, Zane does not have a strong sense of community or tradition. Zane rejects an interest in expanding his family ties, but his angry and defensive attitude towards “all that stupid family stuff” (48), masks feelings of hurt and loss.
Supporting characters guide Zane to accept his family connections and recognize the benefits of those bonds. Miss Trissy acts as a teacher, plying Zane with family stories, educating him about his history, tracing his racial heritage, and piquing his curiosity by not telling the one story Zane deep down wants to know: What happened to his “father and his got-hissef-killed brother” (67). Thanks to Miss Trissy’s account of Hurricane Betsy, Zane knows to shelter in the attic, which saves his life and Bandy’s. Family stories pass on history and information.
Tru is a surrogate male family figure for several characters. He is like a big brother to Belinda, a substitute father for Malvina, and briefly, a respected mentor for Zane. Tru models hope and courage, risking himself to care for Zane, who returns the favor when Tru is ill—much like a child cares for an aging parent. Tru, and Malvina, sister-like, teach Zane about New Orleans traditions and history. Tru’s advice that a “Son should know about his daddy, even if he gone. ‘Specially if he gone” (124), hits home for Zane, as he travels streets his father traveled, and recognizes the long history of the Dupree name.
Zane ultimately realizes that he cannot separate himself from Gerald: He shares his father’s blood. Zane learns that those who came before live on in their descendants. With this self-discovery, Zane gains confidence, abiding friendships, and new sense of community. Zane’s new family ties broaden his cultural identity and sense of belonging in New Hampshire, where Miss Trissy introduces him to the black community, and extends to New Orleans, where, as Belinda says, “The boy has family…He’ll be back” (167). Zane now proudly accepts himself as a Dupree: a product of both his mother and his father, but also distinctly himself.
The Sustaining Power of Hope
Surrounded by death, destruction, and dangers, each character is sustained by their own unique brand of hope and faith.
Tru tells Malvina and Zane that he has “a compass in my head always points me right” (60), referring to his sense of direction, but his comment applies equally to his optimistic attitude and integrity. Even the pink color of the feather in his hat symbolizes hope and reassurance. Tru’s positive demeanor encourages both Zane and Malvina. Tru models capability and calm, maintaining faith that everything will work out alright—from Malvina’s mom beating her addiction to finding help and safety. Tru also places a superstitious faith in his “lucky hat.”
Malvina keeps her spirits high and buries her hurt under a steady stream of bad jokes. While Tru calls this approach, “whistling past the graveyard” (150), they both understand the need for laughter in the face of adversity. Malvina declares, “We gotta laugh, right, Tru?” (79). Laughter keeps the friends hopeful and keeps them from focusing on the shockingly negative situations they endure. Without laughter, hope diminishes. Malvina, with her desire to be a comedienne, recognizes the need to turn “tragedy into comedy” (170)—making others happy and keeping oneself positive.
Miss Trissy takes hope and comfort from her religious faith. At the New Mission Zion Baptist Church, she finds fellowship and support. Miss Trissy is confident she and Zane they will find an answer to their problems on Sunday when she and Zane go to church to “see what da Lawd provide” (20). Her faith, or confidence in God, gives Miss Trissy hope for the future.
Zane is the most pessimistic of the friends. He lacks Miss Trissy’s faith, though he tries to pray during the hurricane; he does not share Tru optimism; and he has no real coping strategy to deal with stressful situations. Zane’s initial bubble of joy at surviving the storm, bursts, and he feels that every time he thinks things are looking up, they go wrong. Zane says, “I’m expecting something bad to happen because bad things keep happening to us” (122). Zane entertains negative self-talk and his hopes are easily dashed. Thanks to Tru’s encouragement, Malvina’s spirit, and Bandy’s comfort, Zane shows his courage and overcomes his fears.
Friends Have Your Back
“What kind of ship never sinks?” “A Friendship!” (148). This is Tru’s favorite one of Malvina’s jokes for good reason: it points to the enduring power of friendship. Good friends are loyal, and honest. You can count on good friends to keep their words and stand up for each other. Friendship is an important theme in Zane and the Hurricane. As the novel progresses, and Zane, Malvina, Tru, and Bandy overcome challenges and fears together. They come to care about and rely on each other, demonstrating characteristics of true friends.
Zane’s friendship and love for Bandy drive his early actions: He is protective towards the little dog, risking himself to keep Bandy safe. Bandy does the same: leading Zane back to the “safety” of Miss Trissy’s house. Their bond is almost a “mind-meld.” Tru and Malvina also share a profound connection: Tru sacrifices everything to help Malvina—and her mom—and Malvina does the same for him, bravely attacking Boss Man and refusing to let the cops stop her from getting him help. The two pairs of friends form a loyal team.
Malvina and Zane, as Tru notes, are quite different from each other, but share a similar spirit: “Tall and mostly white…Short and mostly black. Couldn’t be more different ‘cept you both got the same grin. Now why is that?” (130). Malvina and Zane also share a common loss: neither knew their birth father, and both of their mothers, though by different circumstances, are absent during the hurricane ordeal. Although Malvina and Zane each think the other talks funny, their budding friendship transcends their cultural differences. While he has trouble understanding her dialect, Zane gets Malvina’s jokes because of her animated delivery. At the cookout, Zane suddenly realizes that their shared experiences and similar wit make him feel like he has known Malvina for a long time: They have become “true friends.”
Each of the friends shows they can depend on and trust one another. Tru does his best to keep them safe, and Zane demonstrates his loyalty to Malvina and Tru when he gives his word not to abandon Tru. Bandy shows his faithfulness to his new friends by defending the group against the armed cops. Malvina endears herself forever to Zane for calling Bandy a “friend” rather than a dog. Philbrick emphasizes the supportive power of friendship during times of adversity.
Inequity and Injustice: The Effects of Racism
In Zane and the Hurricane, Philbrick calls attention to inequities and injustices caused by racism. Zane, Tru, and Malvina experience different forms of racism. Their encounters are based on real cases of discrimination that occurred in the aftermath of Katrina, some of which Philbrick briefly describes in the novel’s backmatter.
In Zane’s case, these experiences are formative to his growing connection to his racial heritage and his sense of self-pride. While Zane and Malvina emerge safely from their ordeal, wiser, self-strength, others in real life do not enjoy the same positive ending.
Philbrick focuses primarily on exposing manifestations of systemic, or institutional racism: when people of color face discrimination from social systems and institutions, like health care, housing, infrastructure, and law enforcement. This form of racism also includes a power disparity. In systemic racism, individual prejudices become embedded in societal policies and practices, causing inequalities for people of color.
The failure of the levees around the Ninth Ward is an example of institutional racism. The levees had failed before in 1965, as Miss Trissy notes, and failed again during Katrina in 2005. Tru asserts that they failed because “Nobody did nothing to fix those old levees” (86). Miss Trissy’s neighborhood was primarily home to black, poor, and working-class residents. Their ward was destroyed because the government did not invest in the infrastructure to fix an existing problem, ostensibly because the neighborhood was less valuable. The wealthy white neighborhoods did not suffer the same level of flood damage.
The lack of assistance for those in the flooded areas and for those who sought shelter at the Superdome, also reveals systemic racism. The unpreparedness of officials at the Superdome shows a grievous lack of support for the disadvantaged. Zane observes that most of those seeking help at the Superdome are Black people. Those who could not escape the city because of economic, mobility, or health reasons suffered inordinately.
Tru and others at the cookout observe that there is no sign of the police, the fire department, the National Guard, or the Red Cross. One survivor says, “we on our own” (86). Tru complains that the Red Cross “evacuated and left us to our troubles” (99). Philbrick notes that the Red Cross did not open any shelters in New Orleans immediately after Katrina because they did not want to put their people “in harm’s way” (178), implying that the survivors left in New Orleans—who needed the most help and were predominantly poor—were dangerous: a form of racial profiling. Tru seems to confirm this when he speculates that the police were afraid to enter their drowned ward.
Zane and his friends also experience racial profiling at several different levels. Racial, or criminal, profiling is when law enforcement officers suspect people are criminals based on their race, ethnicity, or religion. In the novel, the cops stop people from crossing the bridge, targeting them based on their skin color and apparent poverty level, as if fearing they would somehow destroy their communities. Philbrick writes that the real police admitted wanting to keep refugees out of their communities because they feared that the primarily Black survivors would bring chaos and vandalism. Profiling is an example of inherent institutional racism.
The friends’ encounter with Boss Man, a quasi-law officer, is an example of both racial profiling and interpersonal racism, when an individual expresses their own personal racist beliefs and assumptions. Boss Man targets Tru, Zane, and Malvina, suspecting them of dishonesty because of their skin color. His own prejudices exacerbate the confrontation: He disparages and belittles them because they are Black people. He makes a clear demarcation between himself and them, contemptuously calling them “you people,” and asserting his superiority. He also stereotypes Tru and Malvina because of their AAE dialect: Boss Man assumes they are “ignorant” because of the way they speak.
The three friends respond differently to discrimination. Tru is the most cautious: he is aware of the potential dangers of challenging the armed, clearly prejudiced authority figures. Speaking to Boss Man, Tru adds a deferential “suh” to his replies. Malvina responds with anger: attacking Boss Man, criticizing “nice dude” for working for a racist, and defying the cops. Zane struggles to understand how people can be treated with such inequality, confessing at the novel’s end he is still confused about the hurricane’s aftermath. Ultimately, Zane takes away pride in himself and his heritage. He feels solidarity with those who stood on the bridge, saying “That day…I was a proud African American” (171).
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