63 pages • 2 hours read
Jack ChengSee You in the Cosmos
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 48-52Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 48 Summary: “New Recording 48: 5M 37S”
Alex details how everyone cleans the property and house. Ronnie specifies that Alex should not divulge this to the social worker: “[Ronnie] said don’t tell her that we cleaned up, just pretend it’s like this all the time, and I said I wish I didn’t have to pretend” (290). Alex wonders aloud about the meaning of a “non-biological dad” and how different people in his life contribute as his caregivers, companions, and role models, all demonstrating dad-like characteristics. He puts the word “dad” in the same category as other abstract nouns like love, truth, and bravery—words that are hard to precisely label and define but strongly exist in his life.
Chapter 49 Summary: “New Recording 49: 15M 9S”
Alex describes the visit of the social worker and the aftereffects in this recording. Before the social worker arrives, Steve and Zed leave. Ronnie explains that Terra, Alex, and he should sit together on the sofa to show unity. Ronnie wants to practice their responses, but the phone rings. It is a reporter who wants to interview Alex because Lander Civet mentioned him and the Golden iPod on social media. Several reporters email Alex, and a reporter and news vehicle arrive at the house, but Ronnie says he should not speak to anyone right now. Alex is thrilled to hear Terra introduce herself as his half-sister to Juanita, the social worker. Ronnie explains that Alex’s accident happened to occur while their mother was gone: “[…] it was just unfortunate timing […] (296).
Ronnie begins to claim supervision of Alex, but Juanita reassures everyone that she is not there to send Alex to foster care. She knows many things from speaking with doctors, teachers, and neighbors, as well as through online investigation: Alex’s mother lost job and license, Ronnie’s job in Los Angeles, Alex’s solo trip to SHARF, even Lander Civet’s mention of Alex. Ronnie explains his plan to take Alex to Los Angeles, but Juanita thinks Alex should stay in Colorado until the hospital releases his mother. In a lengthy silent moment, Alex sees that although his father is dead, part of him still exists in Terra’s and Ronnie’s green eyes, and that his presence is in the room with them. The idea that part of a person lives on after death reminds Alex of how love, bravery, and truth are hard to explain; he wonders if perhaps these hard-to-prove concepts are all connected to each person’s place in the cosmos. Juanita says Alex is “really fortunate” (301). After Juanita leaves, Ronnie decides to move back to Rockview.
Chapter 50 Summary: “New Recording 50: 3M 7S”
Alex updates his alien audience with a brief recording in which he mentions getting his stitches out and the raised donations on the Rocketforum post thanks to Lander Civet’s promotions. Alex suggests using the extra money to pay for their mother’s hospitalization, but Ronnie disagrees: “[Ronnie] also said let him worry about our mom’s bills, any extra money we raise is going into a fund to pay for my college” (305). Terra, Ronnie, Steve, Zed, and Alex go to Johnny Rockets to celebrate Alex’s recovery. He speaks with his mother by phone, who is recovering now: “[…] she knows I’m her Alex” (305). Alex wants his mother to come along to the Cape Canaveral Mars launch, but she needs to continue her recovery.
Chapter 51 Summary: “New Recording 51: 2M 43S”
Alex records an update from the plane on the way to Florida for the Mars launch. Terra, Ronnie, and Carl Sagan travel with Alex. Zed gives Alex part of the new book he is writing: Unseen Star: Rediscovering Childhood in an Accelerating Age. Zed plans to dedicate the book to Alex. Steve hugs Alex and gives him a cell phone and prepaid card, telling Alex they should stay in touch.
Chapter 52 Summary: “New Recording 52: 6M 9S”
Alex tells the aliens this is the last recording on the Golden iPod. He relays how Scott from CivSpace shows Alex, Terra, and Ronnie the launch site at Cape Canaveral and the NASA command center. Later, Ronnie works to gather new clients while Alex and Terra take Carl Sagan to the beach. Terra tells Alex she has to return to Las Vegas. Alex inspired her to pursue new goals: “[…] there’s something for her, she just doesn’t know what it is yet” (313). Back at the hotel room, Alex finishes the recording on the balcony looking at the livestreamed image of the Mars rocket. He says that his Golden iPod will make it into space someday on a rocket that he and his friends build. Alex wonders aloud what the aliens might think about his thoughts and his life as a “boy who loves his family and friends and his dog that he named after his hero” (314).
Chapters 48-52 Analysis
This last set of chapters includes the climactic scene (Juanita’s visit and decision), the falling action (Alex’s trip to Cape Canaveral), and resolution (represented by his last recording). The scene with the social worker is revelatory for both Ronnie and Alex. Ronnie grips his phone white-knuckled in a symbolic attempt to hold onto the life and career he established in Los Angeles, but he makes the hard decision to take responsibility for Alex and his mother’s mental health. Terra later references how sometimes people must be responsible even when the responsibility should not fall to them, meaning Ronnie’s move back to Rockview. Alex has an epiphany in the silent moment during Juanita’s visit, marking a step in his coming-of-age journey; he sees that past, present, and future are all connected when he realizes the lasting presence of his dead father, and he simultaneously sees that abstract concepts like family (along with love, truth, and bravery, all three of which he sought on his physical journey) are better understood emotionally and not necessarily with stark language. He claims that some words are “shadows,” with meanings that shift and are easier to see at some points in time than at others. With this revelation, Alex sees that everyone in the cosmos is connected.
In the falling action, Alex accepts a reward for his journey and his love of others: a trip to see a satellite launch. The impending launch symbolizes the completion of this coming-of-age experience, and the future literal and figurative journeys he will make. Alex is better prepared mentally and emotionally for these up-and-coming journeys than he was for his trip to SHARF at the story’s start, because he learns and accepts truth about his mother’s schizophrenia. He also accepts that what he really sought was the love and compassion of a close family and the support toward achieving dreams that that closeness brings. He realizes that with the familial love and support of his mother, brother, half-sister, and family-like friends such as Zed and Steve, he will be able to follow through with his Golden iPod idea someday: “Because I realized what Zed meant when he said, You already have it. And I agree” (314)
