52 pages • 1 hour read
Polly HorvathEverything on a Waffle
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Symbolic Word Play With Names
Horvath imparts symbolic names to a number of the characters that comment on these individuals, reflecting certain aspects of their personalities. The key example of this is the protagonist, Primrose. One of the first blooming flowers of spring, the primrose traditionally symbolizes hope, joy, and good fortune. Some ancient cultures used the primrose to ward off evil spirits and bad fortune. Primrose embodies the qualities of optimism and hope attributed to the flower. Squarp, her last name, combines the words square and sharp, capturing her keen observational skill, her moral rectitude, and her insight into human nature. Both names are uncommon, reflecting the unique nature of the main character.
The author also assigns symbolic names to certain individuals who afflict or hinder Primrose in her effort to maintain her vigil for her absent parents. Rather than resorting to the typical spelling, Hunnicut, the author spells the intrusive counselor’s name Honeycut, implying an impeded or withheld goodness. Miss Honeycut attempts to portray an image of caring for her yet perpetually challenges Primrose’s security and home life. Beneath the veneer of compassion, Miss Honeycut angles to force Primrose out of the picture to grasp the undivided attention of Uncle Jack. Primrose’s other would-be helper is Miss Perfidy, whose name is a play on the word perfidious, meaning untrustworthy, treacherous, or disloyal. Try as Primrose might, she cannot get Miss Perfidy to listen to a complete sentence. Speaking to Miss Honeycut, Miss Perfidy insists that Primrose is a vapid, incorrigible dreamer, just like her mother and grandmother—whom Miss Perfidy never knew. From Primrose’s perspective, Miss Perfidy’s first betrayal was her unwillingness to try to talk Primrose’s mother out of sailing into the typhoon to search for her husband’s fishing boat.
There are several individuals whom one may perceive as legitimately trying to help Primrose. Chief among these is Uncle Jack Dion. Dion is a name derived from Dionysius, the Greek lord of celebration, feasting, ecstasy, and wine. True to form, Uncle Jack—whom women find charming—lives a life of hearty activity with a constant smile and an indefatigable, happy-go-lucky attitude. Embodying his first name, Uncle Jack springs from a gentrification scheme to a real estate showing to a solo game of basketball, ignoring the child he moved to Coal Harbour to nurture. Miss Bowzer, emblematic of a small, protective dog, exhibits great loyalty toward Primrose. Horvath records her as “barking” (40) when she speaks to Primrose over the telephone. Miss Bowzer turns out to be precisely the sort of loyal, accepting friend Primrose needs. Primrose’s foster parents, Evie and Bert, form an innocent, childlike older couple. Horvath apparently draws the names of these perpetually simple, affectionate people from the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie, as reflected in their interpersonal relationship, with Evie driving their conversation and decisions while Bert listens and assents.
Cascading Disasters
One may perceive Everything on a Waffle as a series of unfortunate events that befall a tween girl. Apart from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Primrose does virtually nothing to bring these calamities upon herself. One may also note that those who make decisions intended to help Primrose actually directly or indirectly cause the majority of her problems.
The mishaps begin when her parents disappear in a typhoon. Miss Honeycut, her school counselor, turns the other girls in Primrose’s class against her when she gives a pop psychology explanation of what Miss Honeycut perceives as Primrose’s inability to grieve. Seeking to flee her pernicious classmates, Primrose lurks in a drug store where the owners falsely accuse her of theft. Rather than allowing Primrose to come inside a house he is trying to sell to get a bandage for her skinned knee, Uncle Jack gives Primrose his handkerchief. As she stands in the street, trying to staunch the flow of blood, a truck strikes Primrose, giving her a concussion and causing the loss of her little toe.
Her teacher and the counselor, wanting to instill empathy in a person for whom they have no empathy, decide to entrust Primrose with the care of her class’s pet guinea pig. Primrose covers its cage and sets it aside in Miss Bowzer’s kitchen, where the animal catches fire. Encouraged by Uncle Jack to take a net to the harbor to pretend to catch fish, Primrose washes over the dock, resulting in the loss of a digit on her ring finger. Child Protective Services forces Primrose to move into the home of two elderly strangers. When she returns to visit Coal Harbour, Primrose sees her uncle injured as a burning building collapses upon him. She visits the hospitalized Miss Perfidy, who dies when Primrose tries to speak to her. Horvath uses this motif of ongoing disasters to demonstrate the resilience of Primrose, who accepts these outrageous pitfalls without resentment, always hopeful for the restoration of the existence she had before the first catastrophe.
Losing and Gaining
A corollary motif to the cascade of disasters is the apparent back-and-forth flow of Primrose losing something and gaining something in return. She loses her parents and surprisingly gains Uncle Jack. She loses the security and consolation of her home and classmates but, in return, gains the uplifting, dependable Miss Bowzer. Eventually, she loses the only community she has ever known but, in its place, gains a new home with the surprisingly embracing support of Evie and Bert. Saddened by the loss of Miss Perfidy, soon afterward, she regains the greatest treasure of all: her missing parents. Through the ongoing cycle of losing and gaining, Horvath implies that even the most devastating losses result in unforeseen reparations. Primrose, who accepts the harsh realities of life without protest, receives its unexpected recompense with joy.
