48 pages • 1 hour read
K.J. Dell'AntoniaThe Chicken Sisters
Fiction | Novel | Adult | 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.
Symbols & Motifs
Fried Chicken
Fried chicken is a motif in the novel. It not only serves as the basis for the rivalry between Frannie’s and Mimi’s, but it also symbolizes the need to nurture one’s dreams and union with loved ones. For Mimi and Frannie, fried chicken provided an outlet for them to establish their own lives without having to work for anyone else, such as Harvey, who owned the restaurant they first worked at on the railroad line. When Frannie and Mimi opened their own restaurant, “they were making more money with chicken than Harvey was” (2). Although their respective families originally believed the sisters were at odds with each other, Mimi’s decision to give Frannie her fried chicken recipe illustrates her willingness to share each other’s dreams and desires. Mimi recognized just how much Frannie valued her marriage and her own independence despite the tension between her and Frannie’s husband. Despite starting their own restaurants, fried chicken allowed them to stay connected with each other. In the present, fried chicken allows the characters, specifically Mae and Amanda, to discover what their dreams are and to pursue them through Food Wars. Although the competition show does not end the way they expect, it forces them to come together and gain perspective on what they want out of their respective lives. At the same time, fried chicken brings the family together and merges the restaurants in the same way Mimi and Frannie’s began the business.
The Cottonwood Tree
The cottonwood tree and its stump in the wooded area near Barbara’s home play a small but pivotal role in the novel because it represents the complicated relationship between Frannie’s and Mimi’s, as well as that between Mae and Amanda, who played under and in the tree as children. Even further, the fallen tree symbolizes the inevitability of change and the potential of the future for the characters.
When Mae and Amanda discover the tree has fallen, the narrator describes, “The way the tree had fallen had erased the names they’d once carved into it, and the stump, while jagged, looked worn” (99). With this image, Mae and Amanda’s relationship—and childhood—appears to be “worn” and almost “erased,” just like the tree. Dell’Antonia introduces the tree stump at the beginning of the novel to portray the nature of the relationships between the families and between Mae and Amanda. The warped image of the stump reflects the warped view each side has of the other, and it demonstrates how much of the reality of Frannie and Mimi’s original rivalry is not understood. However, in the same paragraph, the narrator claims that the missing tree “[leaves] the familiar path fully exposed” (99), which indicates the stark, unknown potential of the future. While change is inevitable, and giants fall, the tree represents that the future holds potential for the characters as they navigate their presents.
Carleen
As the main character of Amanda’s comic book, Carleen appears as a symbol for potential and the power to utilize one’s potential. Amanda describes Carleen as “the least popular chicken in her high school” who “[annihilates] the chickens around her in a rampage of oil and flames” on her prom night (116). With this image in mind, Carleen utilizes her power to establish her own presence among others after having seemingly been “pecked down” by the other chickens. This not only represents her ability to overcome her adversity, but it also provides Amanda with an outlet to express herself. At the same time, Amanda’s artwork in itself explores the potential she has at creating a career out of her passion, which begins to take light at the end of the novel. In Amanda’s comic, Carleen finishes “her prom night with a fried chicken dinner” (116). By incorporating a fried chicken dinner in her comic book, the motif of fried chicken and Carleen’s symbolism merge together to foreshadow Amanda’s eventual decision to pursue her dreams. Similarly, Carleen is represented as a strong, female character, which reflects the other female characters in the novel, such as Mae, Amanda, Barbara, and Nancy. By having her eat a fried chicken dinner, this also foreshadows the eventual decision to merge the two restaurants into one business and bring together both Frannie and Mimi’s families.
