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Part 4: Victim-Impact Statement
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 doesn’t attend Richard’s sentencing. They are moving into the Epsilon Theta fraternity house on MIT’s campus. Epsilon Theta is a sort of “anti-fraternity,” and Sasha fits right in. The students play games and build puzzles, and they invent things and listen to music. Sasha is the only nonbinary person in Epsilon Theta, but the bathrooms are still labeled “men’s plus” and “women’s plus.” Sasha is “happy” here—people at MIT don’t even know about the fire.
Sasha’s absence at Richard’s hearing is evidence that they have forgiven Richard and moved on. Sasha is happy and feels accepted in their new life at MIT, and there is nothing to be gained from continuing to go to legal proceedings that only serve to remind Sasha of the attack.
Themes
