83 pages • 2 hours read
Nora Raleigh BaskinAnything But Typical
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Mirrors
Mirrors appear frequently in the novel to express the disparity between the way we see ourselves and the way we are perceived. Jason often looks at himself in the mirror, trying to still his face and body in order to get a sense of what he might look like if he were not autistic: “I am looking at myself in the mirror and I am thinking that if I didn’t talk and I didn’t move […] I’d look like any other twelve-year old boy” (15).
As the novel progresses, mirrors—in particular, a mirror in Jason’s own fiction—symbolize the journey toward self-acceptance. Referencing Jason’s short story about a little person, Aaron asks Jason if it would “be weird if Bennu wakes up from the operation, and he’s all tall and stuff, and then he doesn’t recognize himself in the mirror?” (132). Jason begins to understand that a magical fix for himself (or Bennu) will not lead to happiness. He ends his short story with Bennu taking “one last look in the mirror” to declare “this is who I am. This is me” (194).
Phoenix
In Greek mythology, the beautiful plumed Phoenix bird is a mythological creature said to burst into flames when it died, only to rise from its own ashes and take its magnificent form again. These powers of resurrection gave the Phoenix healing powers: A tear from a Phoenix could save a life.
Jason’s online crush Rebecca uses the screen name PhoenixBird, so in honor of her, Jason names the protagonist in his story Bennu (the Egyptian word for Phoenix). When they meet in person, Rebecca rejects Jason, causing him tremendous pain—his first heartbreak. He decides to stop writing, killing off his writerly self. However, after an inspiring writing workshop, Jason realizes that Rebecca’s approval could never have been a magical fix. Instead, he resurrects his desire to write on his own, choosing to finish writing his story, ending it with Bennu choosing self-acceptance.
Letters
The way Jason connects with letters helps the reader gain insight into the way that he relates to the world at large. He gets lost in thought as he plays with words and their letters like a puzzle: When “his mind is focused on the words, it separates from his body, his body that almost becomes a burden, a weight” (1). He sees letters in an unusual way: “Some of the letters look like they came from the same family, tall and thin, and their children, the lowercase letters, look exactly like they do” (47).
Jason also recognizes that letters have the ability to carry heavy weight, like when they are strung together to form a diagnosis: “ASD, autistic spectrum disorder […] NLD, nonverbal learning disorder. Or these letters: PDD-NOS, pervasive developmental disorder—non-specific. When letters are put together, they can mean so much, and they can mean nothing at all” (2). Finally, his mastery of written language allows him to most fully express himself and feel truly seen: “When I write, I can be heard. And known” (3).
