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Part 4: 1001 No-Longer-Blank White Cards
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
Slater includes several milestones in gender nonbinary equality. In 2013, for example, Australia began to offer a choice of three genders on official forms: “male, female, and X,” and Germany now offers the choice of “indeterminate” when assigning gender at birth. In 2014, Facebook began allowing users to identify as a gender “other than male or female,” and in 2015, Disney “removed gender categories from Halloween costumes.” In 2016, the Obama administration “directed the nation’s schools to provide students with access to bathrooms and locker rooms that match their chosen gender identity.” President Trump eliminated much of the guidelines implemented by Obama, Slater points out, but in 2017, the first nonbinary character was cast on the Showtime drama Billions.
Slater points out that the world is beginning to realize the positive changes that Sasha, and many others, desire. Nonbinary gender is slowly becoming acknowledged and respected around the world, but this has not occurred without setbacks. Still, Disney’s removal of gender categories from costumes and the presence of nonbinary characters on television suggests that a majority of society is accepting and tolerant of those who identify outside of the male/female gender binary.
Themes
