88 pages • 2 hours read
Ann E. BurgAll the Broken Pieces
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A 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.
Pages 168-219 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 168-219 Summary
Coach Robeson comes to practice to explain why he chose Chris as his replacement. Although Robeson doesn’t look sick, he “sounds like / he’s whistling through a straw” (168); yet while his voice has lost power, his words still “mean something” (169) important. He says that Chris—Coach Williams—was one of Coach Robeson’s students, known as “Whirlin’ Will” because he made “that baseball dance” (170). Coach Williams might have been good enough to make it to the major leagues, but instead he went to Vietnam. Coach Robeson tells the boys that “the war was worse / than this cancer I got,” because “it destroyed us from the inside” (171)—it prevented young men like Chris from achieving their dreams and led to anger, division, and prejudice.
Coach Robeson goes on to say he was going to make Chris his pitching coach even before he got sick, and he urges the boys to let Coach Williams be the great coach he can be—if the boys “give [him] a chance” (173). Most importantly, Coach Robeson encourages the boys to “give each other a chance” (173) as well, and not allow the legacy of the war to continue to “spread […] its poison” (171). However, Matt notes that Rob doesn’t appear to be listening, and “his eyes are angry bullets” (174). As Coach Robeson walks away, “deflated” (174), Matt has “a ball of tears […] stuck in [his] throat” (175).
Matt’s mom picks him up and says she left Tommy with a neighbor so that the two of them can get hamburgers. Matt thinks that “all the time,” his mom “tries so hard” (177), and he agrees to share a meal.
The next afternoon, Chris—Coach Williams—has thrown baseballs, mitts, and other sports equipment all over the field like “a tornado” (178), as one boy calls it. Coach Williams divides the team into pairs and partners Matt with Rob. Rob is already calling Matt “Frog-face” (180) as the coach gives one member of each pair, including Rob, a bandanna and instructs them to use the bandanna as a blindfold. The team members without bandannas must help their partners gather one of each type of sports equipment—one baseball, one helmet, one bat, and so on. Coach Williams advises that “your partner / will need to be your eyes” (182) as Rob grumpily wonders what the exercise has to do with baseball.
As the challenge begins and a blindfolded Rob searches for items, Matt walks behind him, and Rob gives Matt each item to hold. However, Matt soon determines that Rob has created “his own challenge”: “getting through it / without saying / one word / to me” (185). Soon everyone else finds the items and Rob and Matt are left wandering alone, with the rest of the team “laughing and heckling” (187). Matt asks Rob to let him help, but Rob insists he’ll never “need your help / for anything, / Frog-face” (187).
Next, Rob lets out a statement that knocks into Matt “like a fastball / in the pit of [Matt’s] stomach” (189): “I hate you,” Rob tells him. “My brother died / because of you” (188). Matt, overwhelmed, thinks of all the conflicting voices that symbolize Vietnam for him: his father and Coach Robeson comparing war to cancer; the veterans talking about the place they “want to forget” (189); his birth mother telling him he can’t stay with her amid a scene of violence. Then, through these dark images, Matt hears his American mother singing a lullaby, his father saying: “You’ll always be our MVP” (190), and others like Jeff and Coach Robeson supporting him.
Finally, Matt finds the courage to tell Rob: “I lost my brother too”—“and it’s my fault” (191). He says he understands what Rob’s going through, and Rob’s voice turns “more sad than angry” (191) as he remembers how his brother would take him to Rosie O’s every Friday and come to all of Rob’s baseball games. Next, as Matt begins leading Rob toward the remaining items he must find, Matt describes how, in his Vietnamese home, his mother left to check on a neighbor and told Matt to keep his younger brother safe inside. Matt, however, wanted to look for things the soldiers dropped, like coins, before the rain came and washed any treasures away. He told his brother to wait indoors—but his brother followed, got separated from Matt, and suddenly Matt’s brother was wailing and “there was blood / everywhere” (196). Matt carried his brother home and realized both his legs were gone, and “his hands were small / mangled stumps” (197). Matt’s mother insisted he wasn’t to blame, but still, Matt “knew” the accident “was all my fault” (197).
When he’s finished with his story, Matt observes that while in his dreams, he can’t make out his mother’s face, he now sees her “open and clear” and hears her saying: “It’s not your fault” (198). Meanwhile, Matt has led Rob to the final item in the challenge, a catcher’s mask, and Rob takes off his blindfold and, with red eyes, asks Matt if he’s all right. Matt nods, and Rob gives Matt the bandanna to wipe his tears. The rest of the team cheers as Coach Williams tells the pair he hopes they can “figure out for [themselves] / the purpose of this hunt” (200).
Dad picks Matt up from practice, and Matt realizes he has to tell his family what really happened in Vietnam. After dinner, he sits down with his parents and “let[s] the words lead” (205) him where he’s afraid to go. Once he tells the truth about his brother, Matt says he “understand[s]” (205) if his parents hate him and want to give him up. However, his mother reassures him that “nothing, nothing / will ever change” (205) the love they feel for him. Matt’s father echoes his birth mother’s insistence that Matt isn’t at fault, saying that war, “a monster / with a mind of its own” (205), is truly to blame. Matt wonders if he and his adoptive family can try to find his birth mother and brother, and his mother tells him they will.
That night, Matt’s mom comes to his room and tells him she loves him “so, so much” (207), but that her love for Matt doesn’t keep her from loving Tommy any less. Similarly, Matt can love both his birth family and his new one—“the heart,” his mother says, “always / has room / for more love” (208).
When Matt sees Rob at school, they nod to one another and Rob even asks if Matt is going to practice—without calling him Frog-face. The baseball team wins their final division game and visits Coach Robeson in the hospital after his operation. Only two team members are allowed in the room at a time, and Coach is happy to see Rob and Matt coming in together. Coach tells the boys he’s proud of them, and Rob gives him a baseball signed by the entire team. Matt thanks Coach Robeson “for everything” (211)—he’s realized you shouldn’t wait to say what needs to be said. Words might be “messy” (211), Matt thinks, “but sometimes,” they’re “all you’ve got / to show what matters most” (211).
Matt is becoming much more confident at the piano, and Jeff congratulates him—but also advises him not to rush too much and to learn to “play / the silence too” (212). Matt decides to say something to the vets at their next meeting, but not about his personal life. Instead, he recalls the positive aspects of Vietnam, sharing with the vets the beauty of “the purple-blue of the / sky,” the same color as his mother’s “favorite shawl” (214). From their nods and smiles, Matt thinks some of the vets remember this beauty as well.
On Sunday, one of Matt’s baseball teammates invites him to go bowling with the rest of the team, and Matt and Rob remain friendly. To everyone’s surprise, Coach Robeson shows up, and even though he still looks like he’s lost weight, “his voice / is stronger” (216) and he smiles. That night, Matt’s dad tells him cancer can go into remission, and both Matt and his parents hope the coach will get his “second chance” (217).
In the final scene of the novel, Matt plays with Tommy outside, and Matt describes his happy little brother as a “babbling, bubbling / quickly tumbling / brook” (218-19). The sight allows Matt to fully remember his Vietnamese brother, and for the first and only time in the novel, he states his brother’s name: Huu Hein. As the book ends, Matt says that just as Huu Hein once followed him “everywhere,” he “follows [Matt] still”—and “one day,” Matt and his family are “going / to find him” (219).
Pages 168-219 Analysis
This section begins with another affirmation of Coach Robeson’s role as a strong role model for Matt and other characters in the novel. Coach Robeson develops another of the novel’s themes, the damage caused by war, as he compares the Vietnam War to his own cancer: both are “poison” (171) that spreads from the inside. Repeating the emphasis on respect for others and teamwork he’s displayed throughout the novel, the coach hopes his team can give Vietnam vet Chris Williams—and “each other”—a “chance” (173). Here, Coach Robeson suggests that honest communication and connection, which have been emphasized throughout the novel, can overcome the poisonous hate and resentment caused by war.
In the following scene, the new coach that Coach Robeson urged his team to accept instigates the novel’s climactic scene. In an unorthodox coaching move, the new Coach Williams pairs up his team, blindfolds half the players and has the other half become their eyes—and he purposefully puts Rob and Matt together. As Rob becomes increasingly resentful and again tells Matt “My brother died / because of you” (188), Matt feels like a “fastball” (189) has punched him in the stomach. Instead of giving in, Matt thinks of the supportive voices of his parents, teachers, and coaches that have helped him grow throughout the novel, and he finally finds the strength to speak up. For the first time, Matt tells the full story of how he neglected to watch his Vietnamese brother, and, as a result, has always believed his brother losing his legs was Matt’s own fault.
As soon as Matt has finished his tale, he hears his Vietnamese mother’s voice more clearly than ever before, telling him: “It’s not your fault” (198); by finally expressing his pain and guilt in words, Matt has begun to realize that maybe he’s not so guilty. At the same time, words have allowed Matt to forge a connection with Rob, who also lost his brother. In the face of Matt’s story, Rob’s hate evaporates into something that’s “more sad than angry” (191). By sharing their memories of their brothers, Rob and Matt have realized they also share the same emotions of pain and loss, and they’ve done exactly what Coach Robeson asked them to—they’ve “give[n] each other a chance” (173), and in so doing, they’ve helped each other begin to overcome their demons.
While Rob and Matt’s confrontation, and eventual communication, is a strong example of the importance of speaking truly in the novel, Matt must communicate again before he can truly leave his guilt behind. Matt’s decision to tell his parents about his brother speaks to how much stronger he’s grown over the course of the book, as he still fears that his family well send him away after learning the truth. However, Matt finds that once his fears are out in the open, his family’s love can defeat them, as his parents insist that “nothing, nothing / will ever change” (205) their love for him. In perhaps the novel’s most powerful affirmation of love, Matt’s mother goes on to say that “The heart always / has room / for more love” (206), so Matt can continue to love, remember, and talk about his Vietnamese family while also loving his American one. In a culmination of several themes of the novel, Matt finds that words have as much positive power as they do negative, and in this case, Matt’s and his parents’ words allow him to replace feelings of guilt and memories of trauma with a strong, secure commitment to love.
Once Matt has gained a new sense of security, he begins to thrive in multiple areas of his life, as Burg demonstrates in the final pages of the novel. Now a more courageous communicator, Matt reaches out to Coach Robeson and thanks him “for everything” (211). While words might still scare Matt at times, he now knows that words are often “all you’ve got / to show what matters most” (211), and he won’t lose the opportunity to show his appreciation to the people who “matter.” In addition, Matt visits his coach together with Rob, demonstrating to himself, his coach, and the readers that he won’t let go of the new connections he’s made. Matt also finds the strength to speak up at the veterans’ group, where he shares memories of a beautiful, even magical Vietnam with its cabbages as “big as pumpkins” and its “purple-blue” (213) sky. When some of the vets react with recognition and understanding, Matt again sees the value of communication in helping people to connect. Finally, Matt also becomes a more confident piano player in these final pages of the novel, to the point that Jeff tells him “You’re good,” and encourages him to play both the music and “the silence too” (212).
In the final scene of All the Broken Pieces, a stronger, more confident Matt finds a way to connect his love for his two families and make peace with his past. In the last scene, Matt uses the same words he used to describe his Vietnamese brother at the beginning of the novel, but now applies those words to his American brother Tommy. He hears Tommy “laughing like a / babbling, bubbling, / quickly tumbling / brook” (218-19), which prompts him to remember his biological brother and state his name, Huu Hein, for the first and only time in the novel. Furthermore, Matt states that not only he, but “we,” his American family, will “one day” (219) find his Vietnamese brother. Matt has taken to heart his mother’s words that there’s always “room / for more love” (208); he has found a way to feel safe and at home with his American family, while also reaching out to and remembering his Vietnamese one.
