Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-15

Chapters 16-21

Chapters 22-31

Chapters 32-42

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Series Context: Getting to Know Aven

While one does not have to read Aven Green’s first adventure in Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus to enjoy reading about Aven’s high school trials and triumphs, Bowling does integrate several plot and character elements from the first title into Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus, making it helpful to have some background about Aven and her friends and family.

Aven’s armlessness was caused by a genetic disorder. She was adopted at the age of two by her devoted parents who fell in love with her picture on the internet. They taught Aven from day one how to use her feet as hands, manage her disability, and be self-sufficient. Aven thinks of herself as “abled” and gets angry at Connor in the first novel for saying she cannot do everything a person with arms can do.

Aven first meets Connor and Zion at Desert Ridge, the middle school she attends after her family moves to Arizona and starts working at Stagecoach Pass. Aven was used to her old school, where she knew everyone from kindergarten, had lots of friends, and everyone understood and accepted her difference. At Desert Ridge, she does not fit in. Students call Aven, Connor, and Zion “freaks.” The trio eats outside—as Aven starts to do in the second novel—to avoid stares and comments in the cafeteria. Connor’s Tourette Syndrome plays a much larger role in the first novel, as Connor struggles with anger and a negative self-image after his father leaves because of Connor’s Tourette’s. The three friends help and encourage each other and gain self-confidence over the course of the novel.

Clues including a missing photograph, a sketchbook, and Henry’s curious comments about seeing Aven with arms, help Aven solve the “mystery” of Stagecoach Pass and discover the identity of her birthmother, Aven Cavanaugh. Aven’s birthmother died in a horseback riding accident. She loved horses and performed in rodeos at Stagecoach Pass. She also loved tarantulas and kept them as pets and was a skilled guitar player. Aven adopts all these hobbies in the second novel. The climax in the first novel comes when Aven gains the confidence to play guitar in public and takes a big step forward in believing in herself. Aven’s unwillingness to play and sing for Lando, or initially agree to be in a punk band in the second book, shows the blow Joshua deals to Aven’s confidence. When Aven again believes in herself, she is ready to receive the electric guitar and start their band.

Josephine, or “Joe” is Aven’s birth grandmother and the owner of Stagecoach Pass. She could not care for infant Aven after her daughter’s death and placed Aven up for adoption, but secretly watched Aven’s life from afar, offering Aven’s dad the job at Stagecoach Pass—without disclosing her connection to Aven—when their family’s finances got tight. Aven was initially hurt when she learned that Josephine gave her up but came to forgive and care for the older woman. Josephine gifted Stagecoach Pass to Aven, effective when she turns 18.

The titular cactus is a giant, 200-year-old saguaro that stands on a hill behind Stagecoach Pass. Aven used to climb the hill and think of the important historical events the cactus has witnessed in its long lifetime, and how insignificant her own life was in comparison. Now, Aven recognizes that her life events are not only significant to her, but they are also “momentous,” reflecting Aven’s newly empowered sense of self. The cactus sits on the same hill where Josephine released Aven’s birth mother’s ashes, and where the friends release the ashes of Spaghetti.

Finally, Aven carries her interest in writing and reading through to high school. She continues the blog she started in the first novel and renamed “The Unarmed Middle Schooler’s Guide to Survival.” Aven’s blog now focuses on her feelings about high school and friends and represents her personal reflection of her experiences. In the first book, Aven reads Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl, about a free-spirited girl who does not fit into her high school and is ultimately shunned for her differences. The novel reflects Aven’s own feelings of exclusion and difference. In Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus, Aven reads Spinelli’s sequel, Love, Stargirl, in which Stargirl struggles to regain her confidence and individuality. This title mirrors Aven’s own loss of self-esteem and her journey to rebuild it.

Social Context: Characters with Disabilities Promote Understanding

Through the characters of Aven and Connor, Bowling strives to educate readers, inspire empathy, and promote inclusion for people with disabilities. In an interview on the Nerdy Book Club blog, Bowling comments that, “if empathy and inclusiveness are what people gain from reading my story, then I don’t think I could ask for more than that” (Gephart, Donna. “Empathy and Insignificant events in the Life of a Cactus: An Interview with Dusti Bowling by Donna Gephart.” Nerdy Book Club, 3 March 2017).

Bowling recognizes that people without disabilities are sometimes uncomfortable talking to and interacting with people with disabilities. She believes that education is the key to connection and acceptance. “It's only when people try to expand their viewpoints that they can begin to embrace differences instead of feeling uncomfortable about them," she said. (“Spotlight on Dusti Bowling.” Publishers Weekly, 12 May 2017). Similarly, Bowling hopes that young readers with disabilities find that her novels reflect their lives. She believes that “everyone should be able to find stories that mirror their life experiences” (Gephart, “Empathy,” 2017).

Aven and Connor’s characters were both inspired by real people and events in Bowling’s life. Bowling’s husband and two of her daughters have disorders like Connor’s Tourette’s. Bowling thinks that stereotypical fictional portrayals of Tourette’s have created a misperception of the disorder. Watching her children futilely try to explain to others why they cannot stop their tics made Bowling realize the importance of raising awareness of the reality of Tourette’s and increasing empathy for children with tic disorders.

Aven’s character was inspired by Bowling’s cousin Kyle, who was injured while serving in Iraq, and was going to lose his arm. Sadly, Kyle died, but Bowling kept thinking about how people with limb differences cope in a world that is designed for people with limbs. Bowling watched videos online of the armless bodybuilder, Barbie Thomas and videos by Tisha Shelton, or Tisha “Unarmed,” that detailed how the women live their lives fully without arms. Bowling did extensive research on the experiences of people who have disabilities like those of Connor and Aven to make her depictions realistic and inclusive. Both Barbie Thomas and Tisha Shelton were sensitivity readers for each of Bowling’s novels about Aven. Bowling pointedly illustrates that her characters’ disabilities are only one element of their identities: They are more than their disabilities.

Bowling, conscious that words matter, is careful to use inclusive language when talking about disabilities, rather than exclusionary language. This can be a challenge because people who have disabilities view themselves in different ways. They may use “person first” language, which puts the individual before the description of the disability by describing someone as a “person with a disability” rather than a “disabled person.” This approach does not label the person, but some feel that it negatively separates the disability from them. In contrast, “identity first” language emphasizes the disability and includes it as part of the individual’s identity, like “amputee” or “Autistic.” Aven, for instance, does not like it when Connor, in the first novel, says they are “disabled” with the negative connotation that they cannot do everything that people without disabilities can. Aven’s mom, in contrast, believes that “disabled” does not mean inadequate, it just means that tasks are more challenging for Aven. The National Disability Rights Network advises that, when possible, one should ask the individual with disabilities what language they prefer when speaking to them.

Aven’s dad gets an educational lesson in inclusionary language when he wonders if Henry is “with it” or if he “[has] all his marbles” (33). Aven’s mom chastises him for these words, which are unkind and disrespectful to someone who is experiencing confusion and dementia. Even worse are Joshua’s jokes about Aven eating “toe foods,” having “half a body” (174) and needing to “grow some arms” so she “can be less freakish” (231). Aside from being cruel, disrespectful, and othering, Joshua’s words show his ignorance and lack of empathy. Readers have, Bowling hopes, gained understanding and an openness for inclusivity that they will carry into real life interactions with people with disabilities.