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Part 4: How It Ended Up
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 finally receives Richard’s letters in January 2015. Sasha, Karl, and Debbie all appreciate his apologies, but they wish that they had seen the letters earlier. “It would’ve made a difference,” Debbie says. “I would have been more engaged in what was going on with Richard.” If she had known about the letters sooner, Debbie would have given a different “victim impact speech,” Slater writes.
Again, restorative justice would have ensured that Debbie knew of Richard’s true feelings much sooner, and in this way, the justice system does Sasha and their family more harm than good. Had Richard been able to apologize sooner, much pain, energy, and resources could have been saved.
Themes
