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No Tale
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Monster Calls, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Death, Denial, and Acceptance
Storytelling
Isolation
Family and Growing Up
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Conor asks his grandmother to go to the hospital instead of going to school. She doesn’t answer. He asks if the new medicine is helping his mother, and she is silent for a long time before saying that it’s too soon to tell. When he asks when his mother is coming home, she doesn’t answer that question, either.
His grandmother’s verbal and non-verbal cues imply that Conor’s mother is not doing very well, yet at the same time she doesn’t want to disappoint Conor or make him upset. Even though she has criticized his mother and father for not being honest with Conor, she, too, is trying to deny the sharp downward turn that his mother has taken.
Themes
At school, Conor passes another morning without saying a word to anyone. He sits alone at lunch, his classmates “yelling and fighting and laughing” around him. Conor is staring at his lunch tray, not eating any of the food, when Harry comes over and knocks Conor’s orange juice into his lap. Anton and Sully mock him for wetting himself.
There is a particular tragedy in Conor’s isolation as his mother’s condition begins to worsen, because he is so alone and vulnerable and needs support from his peers. He can’t experience the more innocent joys of being thirteen in part because all of his friends are actively avoiding him—thus, he doesn’t even have a distraction from the hardship of his home life.
Themes
Harry tells Conor that he is going to do the worst thing he can do. Conor can’t see any teachers around, and waits for the blow. But Harry simply shakes his hand and says, “I no longer see you.” Harry, Sully, and Anton then walk away. None of them look back at Conor. The clock on the wall of the dining hall ticks to 12:07 p.m. The monster arrives, saying that it is time for the third tale.
Harry, Sully, and Anton make Conor feel even worse in telling him that they no longer see him. They realize that the isolation that other students have forced upon Conor has actually been detrimental to him, and thus in trying to bully him and make him feel worse, they decide to ignore him as well.
Themes
