61 pages • 2 hours read
Laurie FrankelThis Is How It Always Is
Fiction | Novel | Adult | 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. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Part 1, Chapters 9-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary: “Maybe”
Penn and Rosie consult a spirited child psychologist named Mr. Tongo about Claude’s increasing introversion at school. Mr. Tongo congratulates the couple on raising such an interesting child. He clarifies that although he thinks it is wonderful that they are so accepting of Claude, the rest of the world will not feel the same way, and they will have to prepare Claude for this reality. Mr. Tongo instructs Penn and Rosie to log Claude’s “male” and “female” behavior. Penn is having increasing difficulty distinguishing between gendered behaviors. Penn and Rosie realize that their relationship models non-traditional gender roles.
Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary: “Invention”
Penn and Rosie contend with the bureaucracy of Claude’s school regarding Claude’s gender identity. The school administrators ask Penn and Rosie to clearly define the terms of Claude’s identity. Penn and Rosie protest that Claude does not know how to define it himself. The school requests that Claude use the nurse’s bathroom instead of the boys’ or girls’ bathroom. During a New Year’s Eve date, Penn and Rosie agree that they should not aim for their children’s lives to be easy, but they should try to make sure their children are happy. “I wish them eternal beauty,” Penn maintains, “international travel, smart things to watch on TV. But if I can’t have everything, if I only get a few, I’m not sure easy makes my wish list” (83).
Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary: “Naming Rights”
Rosie reflects that Claude will become Poppy when his hair grows out. Rosie notes that some parents frown at her with disapproval when she is in public with Claude clad in a dress. As predicted, Claude’s hair grows long and he begins identifying as Poppy. Cindy Calcutti, the mother of Claude’s friend Nicky, invites Poppy over for a play date. Poppy calls Rosie from Nicky’s house. Rosie and Penn arrive to collect Poppy, and Poppy bursts out of Nicky’s house sobbing. Nicky’s father, Nick Sr., comes out of the house and calls Poppy a faggot. Cindy is out getting a manicure. Poppy whispers to his parents that Nick Sr. has a gun. Rosie and Penn confront Nick Sr. for Nicky’s sake. The conversation gets heated and Nick Sr. pushes Penn. Cindy pulls up to the house in her car. Rosie informs Cindy what has happened. Rosie later finds out that Cindy is aware of Nick Sr.’s violent behavior. The next day, Cindy sends Rosie an email. The subject line says “Sorry:(” (103). Rosie deletes it without reading.
Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary: “Push”
Rosie reflects that Claude will become Poppy when his hair grows out. Rosie notes that some parents frown at her with disapproval when she is in public with Claude clad in a dress. As predicted, Claude’s hair grows long and he begins identifying as Poppy. Cindy Calcutti, the mother of Claude’s friend Nicky, invites Poppy over for a play date. Poppy calls Rosie from Nicky’s house. Rosie and Penn arrive to collect Poppy, and Poppy bursts out of Nicky’s house sobbing. Nicky’s father, Nick Sr., comes out of the house and calls Poppy a faggot. Cindy is out getting a manicure. Poppy whispers to his parents that Nick Sr. has a gun. Rosie and Penn confront Nick Sr. for Nicky’s sake. The conversation gets heated and Nick Sr. pushes Penn. Cindy pulls up to the house in her car. Rosie informs Cindy what has happened. Rosie later finds out that Cindy is aware of Nick Sr.’s violent behavior. The next day, Cindy sends Rosie an email. The subject line says “Sorry:(” (103). Rosie deletes it without reading.
Part 1, Chapter 13 Summary: “Shove”
A severely mutilated young woman comes into Rosie’s ER. While examining her, Rosie realizes that she is transgender. The young woman, “Jane Doe,” stumbled into a college party and met a young man, Chad, who was interested in her until he realized her secret. Rosie imagines this woman’s first moments of truly embracing her identity: “She laughed—spontaneously and like a girl—and it felt like the first time she had ever laughed, like she was a three-month-old laughing for the very first time” (108). Upon realizing that Jane is transgender, Chad rallies his friends to physically attack Jane. When things begin to get out of hand, Chad shoots a gun in the air to scare his friends off, but he shoots Jane in the shoulder instead. Rosie is unable to save Jane’s life.
Part 1, Chapter 14 Summary: “Mapping”
After Rosie’s encounter with Jane Doe, she decides that Madison is not a safe place to raise Poppy. Penn protests that Rosie cannot control everything; there will be bad people like Nick Sr. even in the best of cities. Rosie, however, is an analytical thinker who likes to tackle problems head on. While Penn believes in happy endings, “[Rosie] developed a treatment plan” (112). She consults a map and researches the most tolerant cities in the United States. Rosie settles on Seattle. She accepts a job in a private practice instead of the ER. Penn and Rosie trade in their Madison farmhouse for a house on a hill with a pink attic bedroom for Poppy. Penn and Rosie’s eldest son, Roo, is not happy about the move.
Part 1, Chapters 9-14 Analysis
The second part of Part 1 marks a turning point in the book, as Claude fully embraces his transition to Poppy. As a result, Poppy is more engaged in school and seems happier to the outside world. However, transphobic incidents weigh down this newfound selfhood—namely, Nick Sr.’s violence and Rosie’s encounter with Jane Doe. Thus, this section illustrates the real-life risks and violence that the transgender community faces.
For the first time, Poppy’s family deals with the consequences and possible dangers of Poppy’s transition. Each family member expresses his or her concern for Poppy in a different way. Her eldest brother, Roo, sullenly suggests that it is his parents’ responsibility to make sure Poppy identifies her gender in a traditional way in order to protect her from harm. Poppy’s second-eldest brother, Ben, calmly explains to his parents that Poppy’s school life will become difficult if she continues her transition. Penn worries solely about Poppy’s happiness and attempts to convey messages of self-empowerment and familial love through his bedtime fairy tales to her. In this section, the motif of fairy tales becomes fully defined as a coping mechanism for Penn and the rest of his family. Meanwhile, pragmatic Rosie throws herself into fear-motivated research that prompts her to relocate her family from Wisconsin to Seattle. Despite the growing dangers and social stigmas of Poppy’s decision, the levity of Mr. Tongo, the child psychologist Penn and Rosie consult with, implies that the family will successfully weather these obstacles to Poppy’s true selfhood.
Through Rosie and Penn’s work with Mr. Tongo, Frankel begins to develop one of the book’s themes: the ambiguity of gendered behavior. Given Rosie’s role as the family breadwinner and Penn’s position as the stay-at-home parent, Poppy’s parents begin to realize that gender roles are not as simple as they might think. By completing a gendered behavior tracking exercise, Rosie and Penn realize that most people break traditional gender roles in their daily lives. Poppy’s rambunctious best friend, Aggie, is a case in point. Aggie’s boisterousness and her penchant for nudity represent the opposite of traditional femininity. Together, Aggie and Poppy’s parents present Poppy with a number of alternative role models for gender expression.
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