111 pages • 3 hours read
Robin RoeA List of Cages
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaChapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
This chapter is told from Adam's point of view as he walks into the cafeteria on crutches as a result of his ankle injury. Charlie delights at the opportunity of telling the group that Adam got his first In School Suspension from the school nurse, but Camila beats him to it. Jesse, the music lover and another one of Adam’s close friends, asks Adam what his mother said about him getting ISS. Adam responds by saying, "My mom is sort of famous for making our fifth-grade teacher cry" (74).
This comment sparks another infamous story of how a boy named Marcus hit Adam in seventh grade with The Order of the Phoenix, "the longest and most potentially dangerous [Harry Potter book] of all" (75). Charlie chimes in, telling everyone the reason Marcus hit Adam was that Adam wouldn't stop talking. Adam tells everyone how his mother demanded immediate retribution from the principal. Jesse says, "Dude, your mom is awesome" (76).
Chapter 14 Summary
Julian narrates this short chapter. It takes place in Child Development class in a room full of plastic, electronic baby dolls. Julian "smooth[s] down [the doll’s] soft hair and runs[s] a hand over his round cheek”;when Julian does this, Jared accuses Julian of “petting” his doll (78). Some girls hear this and laugh. Jared kicks over his baby bag, and his baby's head thumps against the floor as he moves toward Julian "like a predator" (79). Jared shows his wolf like teeth and gets more laughs as he says, "Someone really likes his dolly" (79). Jared is reprimanded by Miss Carlisle and eventually goes back to his desk.
Chapter 15 Summary
The first section of this chapter is narrated by Adam, while he’s in the In School Suspension room. The partitions inside ISS remind him of when his fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Nethercutt, put him in the refrigerator box, which belonged to the only other ADHD kid in the school, Darren Holt. The teacher put him in the student’s big box after Adam was swinging Emerald's braids "like double-dutch jump ropes" (81). Adam found the experience both creepy and boring. Adam's mother, Catherine, found out about the teacher putting Adam in the box, and his mother confronted Mrs. Nethercutt. When Adam’s mother confronted the teacher about forcing her son into a box, Mrs. Nethercutt stuttered, saying that she was simply conducting an experiment to find out if it might help Adam’s ADHD. Catherine retorted that her son was traumatized, and the teacher cried.
The second part of this chapter is narrated by Julian as he sits in his hidden room in the school's theater attic, eating his lunch. He plans on answering Adam’s habitual question: Anything interesting happen today? Today, though, Adam didn't come to pick him up and take him to Dr. Whitlock’s, and he doesn’t know why.
Chapter 16 Summary
The chapter is narrated by Julian while he’s in Dr. Whitlock’s office. When Adam picks him up from art class, Julian asks Adam if he wants to go back to ISS. Adam thinks this is funny.
Dr. Whitlock asks Julian if it’s okay if Adam joins them, and Julian says it’s okay. Adam digs through the board games and takes out a game he likes and cheerfully asks Julian if he wants to play the game. Dr. Whitlock tells Julian that they will play what she believes to be Julian’s favorite game after they play Adam's favorite game.
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
These chapters reveal important details about Adam and his mother, Catherine. Charlie tells Adam he wants to watch Adam's mother come and "kick the nurse's ass," but Adam states his mom isn't coming this time (76). Adam says he’s already convinced his mom that the incident with the nurse was no big deal, and that is why she's not coming (74). Adam explains that his mother is “more fight-the-system, and [he’s] more just-let-it-go" (74). Adam makes a point to let his friends know, however, that he has no problem fighting the system when he wants to.
Roe draws a contrast between Julian being sensitive and protective with his doll, unlike Jared, who bangs his doll’s head on the floor. Julian pulls his doll into his lap and wraps his arms around it, and Julian even thinks sometimes he can tell the difference between a hunger cry and sad cry, "like [his] parents said they could with [him]" (78).
Julian identifies the source of his grief about his parents in these chapters. As he’s sitting in his secret room eating his sandwich, he thinks about who they were, but even more painful is “how much [he] mattered” to them (83). He thinks that sometimes he disappears without their presence, because "if they aren't there, [he isn’t] either" (83).
