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Part 3: Monday, November 4, 2013
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
Sasha’s commute back and forth to Maybeck takes an hour and two buses, but, according to Healy, “Sasha loves buses in a way I can’t even understand,” so they actually enjoy it. The 57 bus is their second bus, and it is usually pretty loud. The girls sit mostly in the front and try to escape the noisy boys in the back, but Sasha prefers their own seat, and that is only possible in the back of the bus. Today, they’re exhausted. Sasha was up all night writing a paper on Anna Karenina, and it’s not long before they’re asleep.
The 57 bus, like many other places in society, is segregated, albeit unintentionally, by gender. With the girls in the front and the noisy boys in the back, there is no natural choice for Sasha based on their gender. This serves as yet another example of the privilege afforded to cisgender individuals, which often goes largely unnoticed.
Themes
