93 pages • 3 hours read
Leslie ConnorThe Truth as Told by Mason Buttle
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Apples
Apples are symbolic of the Buttle family and their well-being. Their lives revolve around the apple season, as generational keepers of an orchard, and the more distant they become from the apples, the more they seem to lose themselves. When the novel begins, the family has sold several acres to land developers who have torn down the trees to build homes. Mason and the rest of the family struggle with this loss, though Mason knows that it is necessary. Mason feels most at home among the apples in the orchard, though the brutal bullying he faces at the hands of Matt Drinker makes it hard for him to enjoy the trees. At the end of the novel, the Buttles are returning to their former glory after incredible loss when Grandma starts baking apple crisp—using and savoring the apples that have defined her life and her home. The rejuvenation of the apple orchard is also a rejuvenation of the family and their self-identity.
The Root Cellar
The Root Cellar is one place that Mason and Calvin create for themselves where they can be themselves in the world. It is a symbol of individuality and of their friendship. The root cellar connects, symbolically, to the tree fort, which Mason built with Benny. Though both the tree fort and the root cellar eventually become the sites of tragedy, like the friendships Mason has with Calvin and Benny, they prevail despite hardship. The root cellar is symbol of Mason’s individuality because, within the walls of the root cellar, and the symbolic walls of his friendship with Calvin, Mason can truly be himself. By embracing his individuality and building himself a space to live in peace, Mason finds a place for himself in the world despite trauma and pain.
Aurochs
The aurochs is a symbol that appears a bit later in the novel. It is symbolic of Mason’s spirit—Calvin even says, specifically, that Mason and the aurochs are the same. Mason can channel the spirit of the aurochs and draw it beautifully on the walls of the root cellar, despite his trouble with most art projects. He tells Calvin, “I don’t need the photo. I see him. The aurochs. I’m not sure why. But he’s right there when I shut my eyes” (170). The aurochs is an extinct species, a massive ox-like creature. Mason is connected to the aurochs in his size and loud voice and footsteps, but he is also connected, somewhat ironically, by his favorite catchphrase. Mason is always saying, “Holy cow!” and the aurochs was, in fact, a holy cow. It was worshipped by people in the Cave of Lascaux, and so was drawn on their cave walls. When the root cellar is knocked down, the aurochs still stands, looking out over the orchard. He is indestructible, like Mason Buttle.
