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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Orbiting Jupiter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Parenthood
Adolescence and Responsibility
Prejudice
Trauma and Trust
Friendship and Love
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Mr. Hurd tells Jack and Joseph that they have to take the bus to school until winter ends. He walks the boys to the bus to ensure that they board it. When it arrives, Mr. Haskell calls to tell Mr. Hurd that he heard Jack got in trouble and that Mr. Hurd probably “took him out to the woodshed.” Mr. Hurd says that he’s actually proud of Jack. Mr. Haskell asks whether Mr. Hurd is proud of Jack nearly drowning, and Mr. Hurd says Mr. Haskell doesn’t know the full story.
The idiom “to take someone out to the woodshed” means to punish them harshly. Once again, Mr. Haskell is loudly discussing the details of his child passengers’ lives in a potentially humiliating way, demonstrating his callousness as well as his prejudice against Joseph—and now, by extension, Jack. Though Mr. Hurd scolded Jack the previous day, he praises Jack in front of Mr. Haskell, showing both that he is a supportive father and that he recognizes Jack’s bravery in helping Joseph even if it was potentially dangerous.
Themes
Joseph and Jack board the bus. Joseph takes the back seat and starts reading Octavian Nothing. Some other boys confront Jack and ask him how he ended up in the river. When one calls Jack “nuts,” another says that Joseph is the “nuts” one. Jack tells that boy to be quiet. All the boys pile on, saying that it was probably Joseph’s fault that Jack ended up in the river, that Joseph will be sent to “psycho school” soon, and so on.
Jack’s friends on the bus refer to Joseph with disparaging language like “nuts” and “psycho,” indicating that they have learned prejudice against children in foster care and the juvenile justice system from the adults around them.
Themes
The boys explain to Jack that “some of the eighth-grade guys” have it out for Joseph because Joseph choked another eighth-grader, Jay Perkins, for insulting “his girl.” Jay Perkins is now claiming he’s going to beat Joseph up. Jack, horrified, heads to the back of the bus and sits with Joseph in silence.
Joseph reacted violently to Jay Perkins insulting “his girl”—presumably meaning Madeleine, the mother of his child. Joseph’s occasional violence shows his immaturity: he's not yet able to regulate his intense emotions. Additionally, his explosive reaction to Jay mentioning Madeleine against hints at some past trauma related to her.
Themes
When Jack and Joseph get off the bus, Mr. D’Ulney is waiting. He tries to take Joseph’s arm, but Joseph shies away. Mr. D’Ulney asks Joseph to come talk to him. Joseph leaves with Mr. D’Ulney, walking behind him. In PE, Coach Swieteck asks Joseph what he was thinking and threatens to kick him around the gym. When Joseph asks how, Coach Swieteck says he has ways. All through PE class, Jack sees Jay Perkins and his friends, Nick Porter and Brian Boss, staring at Joseph. Nick notices that Coach Swieteck is subtly keeping them away from Joseph.
Mr. D’Ulney and Coach Swieteck have clearly both heard about Joseph falling into the river: Mr. D’Ulney tries to have a supportive chat with him, while Coach Swieteck asks him what he was thinking, implicitly a reference to Joseph going out on the ice in the first place. Their reactions again illustrate that some unprejudiced adults feel a responsibility to give Joseph extra support and care (note that Coach Swieteck’s violent threat to kick Joseph around the gym is obviously a joke—Coach Swieteck is a disabled veteran missing both legs).
Themes
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During Office Duty, Mr. Canton doesn’t have anything for the boys to do. Eventually, Joseph takes Octavian Nothing from his backpack and starts reading. Mrs. Halloway walks into the office and sees him. Then Mr. Canton notices him reading and tells him to put the book away: responsibility, he tells the boys, is about fulfilling your duties even when no one can see you. When Mr. Canton asks whether the boys understand, Jack nods, but Joseph stands and says he needs to head to class. Mr. Canton reaches for Joseph, and Joseph flattens himself against the wall, panting. Jack begs Mr. Canton not to touch Joseph. Mr. Canton, glancing between the boys, tells them to go to class.
Mr. Canton may be correct that responsibility is about fulfilling your duties even when no one can see you, but the context undercuts what he says: he hasn’t actually given Joseph or Jack any duties, so he’s scolding them for no reason. Given this context, it seems that Mr. Canton is simply annoyed to see Joseph reading—perhaps because it undercuts his prejudiced stereotype of Joseph as a troublemaker. Meanwhile, Joseph’s panicked reaction when Mr. Canton reaches for him yet again illustrates his trauma.
Themes
Jack leads Joseph, who is breathing heavily, out of the office. Mrs. Halloway calls Joseph’s name. She says that she thinks she and Joseph got off on the wrong foot. Then she tells him she’d like to hear his thoughts on Octavian Nothing. Joseph walks off with Mrs. Halloway. Later, when Jack and Joseph are riding the bus home, Joseph stares hard at the First Congregational Church as the bus passes it. When Jack asks why he’s staring, Joseph says he’s wondering “what it would have been like.” Jack asks what he means, but Joseph dodges the question.
Whereas Mr. D’Ulney and Coach Swieteck treated Joseph well right away, and Mr. Canton has continued to be prejudiced toward him, Mrs. Halloway—who was initially prejudiced against Joseph—sees him reading, revises her initial negative impression of him, and offers him extra mentorship. Mrs. Halloway’s about-face shows that people aren’t simply prejudiced or unprejudiced, full-stop: they can start prejudiced but change their minds. Octavian Nothing is a book about a Black boy in Revolutionary Boston: when Joseph says he’s wondering “what it would have been like,” the context suggests that he’s wondering what it would have been like to be a Black person in America when Black people were enslaved and discriminated against. The novel never states Joseph’s race, so this moment may be implying that Joseph is Black, or it may simply be illustrating his intellectual curiosity and empathy.
Themes
While Jack and Joseph are doing the afternoon milking, Joseph asks Jack whether Jack is going to say what’s worrying him. Jack warns Joseph to avoid Jay Perkins, Nick Porter, and Brian Boss. Joseph replies that he’s met boys just like Jay and his friends at Stone Mountain: all you need to do is break the first guy’s nose and the others back off. Then Joseph says that Jack hasn’t said what he wanted to say yet. Jack blurts that he’s happy Joseph is with the Hurds. Joseph hesitates in his milking—and then starts again.
When Jack warns Joseph about Jay Perkins and his friends and expresses his happiness that Joseph lives with the Hurds, he is demonstrating his friendship and care for Joseph. When Joseph says that he’s met boys like Jay at Stone Mountain, it implies that other boys attacked Joseph at Stone Mountain, hinting at one explanation for Joseph’s traumatized dislike of physical touch.
Themes
One Friday, Mr. Hurd and Jack shovel the snow off their frozen pond while Joseph is at counseling. Then they find skates. When Mrs. Hurd drives home with Joseph, they all skate until the moon comes out, but Joseph skates longer than anyone. The Hurds watch him glide around and around. Jack wonders whether Joseph is skating “with Maddie” and hopes he never stops. When Joseph finally gets off the ice, he has a serious expression. He approaches the Hurds and asks them to help him see Jupiter. Then he tells them “everything.”
When Jack hopes that Joseph is skating “with Maddie,” it suggests that Jack intuits how much Joseph loves Madeleine and how much he wants Joseph to be happy—another moment that shows Jack’s real friendship for Joseph. When Joseph asks the Hurds to help him see his daughter, meanwhile, it reveals both that he is beginning to trust them and that he wants to be a father to his daughter.
Themes
