43 pages • 1 hour read
Mike CuratoFlamer
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | YA | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Tuesday”
Aiden explains how much he likes archery despite being terrible at it and remembers his confirmation. He took the confirmation very seriously and chose St. Sebastian as his confirmation name because St. Sebastian’s symbol was an arrow. Aiden hoped he would feel the Holy Spirit descend on him to make him holy too. However, he felt nothing and was left disappointed.
At orienteering, the same boy that bullied Aiden the day before is giving Ted, the Scout leader who is running the class, a hard time and uses another anti-gay slur. Ted calls him out and makes him look bad in front of the class, and Aiden says how much he likes Ted and wishes he could be like him. When the boy turns his attention to Aiden, Aiden has a comeback ready and stands up for himself. He can’t wait to tell Violet in his next letter, along with telling her about the dreams he’s been having.
Later, Aiden declines to join in a volleyball game. He hates sports and remembers all the times he’s messed up and people have gotten mad at him because they’re taking the game too seriously. He gets hit in the head with the ball while sitting on the sidelines. When Elias comes to check on him, he wishes he had a muscular body like him.
Aiden writes a letter to Violet explaining his dreams about Elias—how they keep happening, sometimes even when he’s awake, and how much it’s freaking him out. He worries that there is something wrong with him and that she won’t want to be his friend. He hesitates before putting the letter in the mailbox, but ultimately does.
Aiden excels at basket weaving, while David struggles. The two discuss going home the following week and the imminent start of high school. They’re going to different schools, but Aiden suggests they could hang out after school and David likes the idea.
After classes, the patrol starts a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Aiden wants to be a great sorceress elf, and Mark questions why Aiden is always a girl character. More teasing ensues, but Aiden stands up for himself. In the end he is forced into being a hobbit.
At the campfire that night, the group sings songs again. Everyone is having fun and improvising lyrics. When it is Aiden’s turn, he does a valley girl impression, and everyone laughs at him. Aiden reveals that he hates his voice because it’s high-pitched and his inflection is effeminate. He avoids talking as much as possible while at school in an attempt to remain invisible. He thought things were different at camp, but tonight has changed his mind. Mark comes to check on Aiden but makes things worse. He suggests that the way Aiden acts makes everyone think he’s gay, and that things would be easier if he were to act more “normal.” Aiden insists he is not gay, and that trying to act “normal” makes it worse.
That night, he has a Lord of the Rings themed dream in which he is Frodo and Elias is Sam. Elias tells him that he will never let anything happen to him and the two stare into each other’s eyes. However, the Eye of Sauron sees Aiden for who he really is, and Elias throws Aiden into the fires of Mount Doom.
Chapter 4 Analysis
The sequence in which Aiden writes and posts a letter to Violet is significant for Aiden—for the first time he is acknowledging feelings that he has tried to suppress and putting himself out there in front of his best friend, who he worries will reject him. The dark red color of the stamp captures the moment’s symbolic weight and is the focus of close-ups as Aiden makes his way toward the mailbox. In contrast are long shots of Aiden walking along the trail through the open wilderness. Aiden appears small, insignificant, and alone in the vast open space, emphasizing his sense of vulnerability and isolation.
The magnitude of Aiden’s mailing Violet his letter is drilled home visually. Curato’s panel layout stretches time and space, giving the sense of time going in slow motion. Curato uses multiple, successive panels to depict important actions, such as licking the letter, placing the stamp, and finally dropping the letter into the box—this elongates time.
Graphic novels force the reader to fill in the gaps between panels to interpret what has happened. Using more panels forces the reader to linger on each act and creates a sense of time moving more slowly. The overall impact is that Aiden’s act of writing and posting the letter feels interminable and conveys the weight and significance of the moment for Aiden.
This chapter also depicts the tension that Aiden faces as he tries to make friends. He forms a genuine connection with David by being himself: He doesn’t hide that he is good at basket weaving, they bond over shared interests, such as X-Men, and they have natural, honest conversations about their hopes and fears for high school. However, as Aiden feels more comfortable, he drops his guard. This leads to friction with some of the boys, as they become uncomfortable with the way that he is different. Mark Jones, who functions as the embodiment of oppressive social norms, thinks he is helping when he tells Aiden to be more “normal. This frustrates Aiden because he feels set up to lose: He can either try to pretend he is “normal” and fail, which everyone always points out, or he can be himself, which also falls short of social expectations. Moreover, every time he starts to feel comfortable and like he can be himself, someone reminds him that he doesn’t fit in and that his being different is wrong.
