48 pages • 1 hour read
Wendelin Van DraanenSammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998A 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
Binoculars
The binoculars are a symbol of The Power of Observational Skills and Critical Thinking. Sammy is drawn to the device because it complements her personality traits, particularly her curiosity and attention to detail. The binoculars expand Sammy’s field of vision, facilitating the young detective’s keen observational skills and leading to many of her most important discoveries. In the novel’s inciting incident, they allow her to see a robbery in the hotel across the street. By adjusting the binoculars’ focus, she’s able to note key details about the thief, such as his “bushy brown hair and beard” (5). No one else witnesses the crime, and it would have gone unnoticed by the protagonist if not for the binoculars. In this way, the device supports the character’s natural observational skills and presents to her a mystery that challenges her critical-thinking skills. Another key moment for the motif occurs when the binoculars allow Sammy to observe Oscar “cleaning his glasses with a hanky” in Chapter 12 (91). When she applies her critical-thinking skills, she realizes that this detail is the vital clue that reveals that he is the thief. Van Draanen uses the motif of Sammy’s binoculars to develop the theme of observational skills and critical thinking, facilitate key moments in the mystery, and accentuate the protagonist’s strengths.
Sharing Food
Sharing food serves as a motif of The Importance of Family and Friendship. Sammy and her best friend, Marissa, frequently eat ice cream together. Their favorite treat is the Double Dynamo, “two scoops of ice cream double-dunked in dark chocolate and then rolled in peanuts” (46). The friends’ ritual of sharing ice cream helps them console each other after setbacks, like Sammy’s suspension, and celebrate successes, such as clearing Sammy’s name at school. Further emphasizing the significance of sharing food with loved ones, the protagonist realizes the hotel thief’s identity immediately after eating Double Dynamos with Marissa.
Marissa further develops the motif and helps Sammy gain a greater appreciation for family through her perspective on family dinners. Grams’s financial means are limited, but one way that she demonstrates her nurturing love for her granddaughter is by preparing her meals, and the two eat dinner together almost every night. However, Sammy doesn’t see how valuable this routine is until Marissa laments, “I’m so tired of frozen dinners and Pop-Tarts. [My parents] always tell me I’ve got to be home for dinner, and then they don’t show up until eight o’clock or something. I can’t believe how lucky you are” (75). The specific foods that Marissa prepares for herself aren’t the issue; it’s the fact that she eats alone. Marissa’s experience shows how wealth can be an obstacle to familial closeness; her parents’ focus is absorbed by their careers and stocks, to the detriment of their relationships with their children. Van Draanen uses the motif of food to argue that when it comes to loved ones, time together is more precious than money.
Confinement
Confinement provides a motif for The Moral Complexity of Justice and Crime. While trying to place a dangerous thief behind bars, the detective herself experiences confinement, often for factors not fully within her control. Because children aren’t permitted to live in the government-subsidized Senior Highrise, Sammy must conceal her presence, and this often entails squeezing into tight spaces. All of her belongings must “fit inside Grams’ bottom dresser drawer” so that they can be stowed out of sight (3), and Sammy must be ready to hide in her grandmother’s closet at a moment’s notice. Mrs. Graybill is deeply invested in proving that the girl is staying in the building unlawfully because she sees her as someone maliciously exploiting the system rather than as an individual in a difficult situation that she didn’t choose. Sammy’s confinement in her school’s Reflection Room offers another example of the complexity of justice and crime. The room is “even smaller than Grams’ closet” (35), and Sammy calls it “the Box” to further emphasize its tight quarters and the restrictions on her freedom. The vice principal views Sammy’s time in the Reflection Room as a just punishment for hitting Heather, but his judgment fails to take into account the times that Heather bullied Sammy.
In Chapter 13, the protagonist draws a connection between confined spaces and the restrictive labels that adults ascribe to her: “Why did everyone think I was a liar? Being trapped in the closet was starting to feel like being stuck in the Box, and suddenly all I wanted was to bust out from under all those shoes and hemlines and prove that I wasn’t lying” (98). When characters like Officer Borsch, Vice Principal Caan, T.J., and Mrs. Graybill dismiss Sammy as a “brawling” (35), lying “juvenile delinquent” (81), they pass overly simplistic moral judgments on her actions and fail to recognize her positive attributes. The motif of confinement gives insight into the protagonist’s complicated circumstances and shows how she grapples with the complexity of justice and crime.
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