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Part 3: Booked In
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The 57 Bus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender and Sexuality
Adolescent Crime vs. Adult Crime
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language
Discrimination and Social Justice
Accountability, Redemption, and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Dr. Grossman “shaves away at the burned, dead skin” of Sasha’s legs and covers the wounds “with a temporary graft of pig skin.” When Sasha wakes up, they are all over the news, but they can’t concentrate to watch television. Although Sasha doesn’t know it, the police officer who interviewed Richard tells Debbie that Richard “actually said he’s homophobic” and that “he giggled.”
The police and the press paint Richard as a homophobic criminal, which makes it easy to condemn him and treat him like an adult instead of a juvenile. Richard’s giggles were likely a reflection of his discomfort while talking to the police, yet this too is twisted and used against him.
Themes
