Be Prepared

Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Pages 4-59

Pages 60-117

Pages 118-175

Pages 176-244

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Historical Dolls

The “fancy” historical dolls are the popular toy of choice among Vera’s peers. They are fictional representations of American Girl dolls, which were popular among 9- to 13-year-old girls in the 1990s. Like real American Girl dolls, the historical dolls in the graphic novel come with clothes, pets, and household items of their own. In Be Prepared, these dolls serve as symbols of “typical,” and in Vera’s case aspirational, American girlhood. At Sarah’s birthday party, every gift is somehow connected to her historical doll, Complicity, and after presents and cake, all of the girls retreat to Sarah’s bedroom to play imaginative games with their dolls. Vera does not own one of these dolls, as they are too expensive, but she longs to play the same games as her peers. In much the same way, she wants to be considered a regular girl just like her classmates. These dolls are so intimately connected to girlhood that Vera is too ashamed to admit she doesn’t have one. Instead, she lies and says she left her doll Maria at home. Later, she retreats to the kitchen where she looks at one of the doll catalogs alone. The expense and accessibility of the historical dolls thereby demonstrate that American-ness and the items associated with being an “American girl” are often unattainable for certain groups based on their class, ethnicity, and/or cultural background. They also symbolize the way in which childhood broadly and girlhood more specifically are centered around objects and consumption.

The Outhouse or “Hollywood”

After unpacking in her tent, the first notable location that Vera encounters at camp is the outhouse, which is nicknamed the “Hollywood,” for reasons that are never explained. The outhouse becomes a symbol or stand-in for the many difficulties of Vera’s camp experience. It is disgusting, smelly, and full of creepy creatures like spiders, just as how the camp and the wood surrounding are similarly uncomfortable, gross, and frightening. The “Hollywood” also becomes the setting for many of Vera’s frustrations and formative moments. She is using the outhouse during the flag war when Alexei steals the flag from her. He holds his nose to indicate how smelly the outhouse is—and by association how gross Vera is. Therefore, Vera begins to connect the outhouse to all of her suffering and misery. She makes special mention of it in her letter to her mother and again when her mother comes to supposedly take her home. “There’s no running water! I have to poop in a hole!” Vera cries (137). Without explicitly saying so, Vera uses the “Hollywood” as a stark representation of her terrible time at camp. Notably, however, she is also able to use her disgust for the outhouse to her advantage when she makes the boys measure and compare the boys’ and girls’ toilets as punishment for losing in the flag war. The “Hollywood” becomes a symbol for overcoming difficulties, for being willing to try again, and for confronting the “gross” things that might make one uncomfortable.

The Flag

During their time at ORRA, the older campers engage in a boys versus girls flag war, with each weekly battle or attack referred to as the napadenya. The flag, therefore, becomes an important symbol of victory and strength. Vera is chosen to guard the flag during one of the battles and takes it with her to use the outhouse. It is unfortunately stolen while she is on the toilet, leading the other girls to dislike her to an even greater degree. As Vera reflects after the incident, “Somehow there was room for me to be even less popular” (130). Her loss of the flag costs her any chance at “fitting in” among her fellow campers. Moreover, it is emblematic of Vera’s own inner feelings: that she is unlikeable and incapable of making friends.

At the conclusion of the graphic novel, Vera redeems herself and steals the flag from the boys’ camp all on her own. She approaches the camp with certainty and confidence and is able to use her wits to formulate the best plan to grab the flag (almost) unnoticed. When she returns to her camp victorious, she becomes the hero, rather than the scapegoat. In addition, as the one responsible for winning the napadenya, Vera gets to “come up with the punishment for the boys” (215). While this moment serves as a crucial redemptive moment for Vera and as her way back into the good graces of her fellow campers, it is also symbolic of her own growth. She was determined to capture the flag for herself, and for Kira, and was less concerned with doing it for social acceptance. The flag is therefore representative of Vera’s personal victory and inner strength, thematically supporting The Power of Confidence and Self-Discovery and marking Vera’s character growth over the course of the graphic novel.