60 pages • 2 hours read
Sarah DessenJust Listen
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006A 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
The “Just Listen” CD and Music
Music and the “Just Listen” CD that Owen burns for Annabel symbolize the power of listening to oneself, finding your voice, and using it to speak up. Music is Owen’s obsession and the first way that he and Annabel bond, as he gives her a ride home and has a car with mountains of CDs. Annabel is introduced to numerous new bands and types of music because of Owen, such as thrash metal. Music gives them a shared topic to be honest about and escape into together rather than be caught up in the noise of reality. Music is the first thing Annabel learns to speak up about. Though it seems minor compared to her ultimately sharing about her rape, Whitney’s eating disorder, and other heavy topics, music gives her the starting point toward honesty, openness, and respecting her own voice.
In the unexpectedly silent scene of the “Just Listen” CD, Annabel needs not real music but silence to realize that she can’t remain silent any longer. She needs to be the music, to share her trauma so she can heal. The CD functions as the catalyst Annabel needs to finally change and vent about everything she’s been repressing since the night with Will. Without the CD, Annabel wouldn’t have taken the leap to share her darkest secret with Owen or testify against Will. She needed music and the “Just Listen” CD to complete her transformation. By the novel’s end, she listens to herself over anyone else rather than suppressing her thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Annabel learns to put herself first and to not think or judge, but to just listen.
The Greenes’ Glass House
The family’s glass home was designed by Annabel’s father Andrew, an architect. Many admire their home, but in the text, it represents the theme of Appearances Versus Reality and the family’s destructive dynamic to suppress negative things and pretend everything is fine: “From the outside, you could see our entire downstairs […] The rest was tucked away behind, out of sight. So while it seemed like you were seeing everything, you really weren’t. Just bits and pieces that looked like a whole” (48-49). Because outsiders see only the surface level, such as a quintessential family dinner or Whitney’s beauty through the glass, they don’t know the reality of their family’s experiences. Likewise, knowing just parts of someone, such as Annabel through a commercial, doesn’t showcase their depth and other qualities beyond physical appearance.
The glass house is also a symbol of fragility, as the perfect family picture eating their nightly dinners or watching a movie could break at any moment. Annabel’s mom, Grace, is the perfect reflection of the glass house, as after her mom died, she endured months of depression. Once so strong, their mother couldn’t even get out of bed for entire days. Whitney’s eating disorder also disrupts the family, cracking the “glass,” as does Kirsten and Whitney’s fight and Annabel’s admitting that she feels as broken as glass after her trauma.
“Shhh, Annabel. It’s just me.”
This line of dialogue is a repeated phrase in the novel that symbolizes Annabel finding herself. It also relates to the theme of silence, listening, and speaking up. Though Annabel initially interprets the line as her being haunted by Will’s repeated dialogue from the night he sexually assaulted her, she later realizes that the line turns into her own voice. This repeated motif first occurs in Annabel’s thinking about the past and her trauma reactions such as throwing up. At the climax, though, Annabel has an epiphany about the quote while listening to the “Just Listen” CD. The line comes to her mind again in the quiet, and she recognizes that she is not hearing Will’s voice but her own. Will might have stated it to her that night to calm her down and get her to stop resisting, but afterward, it is her inner voice telling her to stop running, to listen, and to speak up about the truth. The line repeats in her head when she tells Owen the truth. Because it’s her inner voice, the dialogue now gives her courage and purpose, teaching her she doesn’t need to fear her own feelings and can push through the fear, shame, guilt, pain, and anger.
Related Titles
By Sarah Dessen
