84 pages • 2 hours read
Sharon CreechRuby Holler
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2002A 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
Dreams
All four main characters are impacted by their dreams. Dallas often dreams of “his favorite place” (39), a lush, natural environment to which he has never been. His dream is an escape from the harshness of his life. Symbolically, his dream represents a place of safety that will nurture him, and this is what Ruby Holler provides for him and Florida.
Florida’s dreams tend to be darker—she dreams of being chased and of rats and lizards. The twins’ dreams reflect their optimistic and pessimistic personalities.
Often dreams serve as a signal to the novel’s characters that they should take action. Like Florida, Tiller has ominous dreams. Years prior, when his young daughter was sick, Tiller dreamt that she was being harmed by an allergy to orange popsicles. He was able to use knowledge obtained from his dream to help her. The novel suggests that dreams are powerful indications of what the dreamer is troubled by or steps the dreamer needs to take to resolve the dissonance in his or her life.
Birds
Birds appear frequently in the novel. In the opening chapter, Dallas notices a majestic bird, which, unlike he and Florida, can soar freely wherever it pleases. The contrast between the twins’ situation and that of the bird intrigues him. Birds become a connection that he and Sairy share as their bond develops. Dallas finds ordinary birds, such as the blue jays that live in Ruby Holler, to be fascinating. He and Florida are excited by the natural world, having been deprived of a connection to it during their time at the Boxton Creek Home.
Sairy’s fascination with birds inspires her to whittle them from wood—she and Tiller explain to the twins how they “see” the object in the uncarved wood, then carve the item. In a manner of speaking, Sairy is freeing the birds from the wood as she carves them. Birds, with their ability to fly wherever they like, represent the kind of freedom the twins desire, which they ultimately achieve while living in Ruby Holler. They cannot be confined nor imprisoned, and, through the Moreys, Dallas and Florida achieve release from the life that has imprisoned them.
Ruby Holler
The primary setting of the novel contrasts greatly with Boxton Creek Home, which is oppressive and unloving. Ruby Holler is lush with vegetation and fresh air, and its trees and river are inviting to the twins. “Holler” is taken from regional dialect to describe “hollows,” or the valleys that lie between hilly areas. Florida and Dallas have experienced nothing like Ruby Holler and its peaceful landscape. It features endless, open spaces which they are encouraged to explore.
Ruby Holler symbolizes the freedom and security that other foster homes have failed to provide for them. The twins learn that the hollow takes its name from the splendor of the trees when their leaves turn a bright red in autumn. “Ruby” conjures the gem, imbuing the holler with an extravagance and value attributed to fine gemstones. Indeed, the brilliance of the holler is contrasted with the fake rubies that Mr. Trepid steals. Though he covets luxuries, such as gems, jewelry, watches, cars, and exotic vacations, he is too foolish to recognize the beauty of Ruby Holler. Because he is a small-minded and cruel person, Ruby Holler is only a lowly rural area to Mr. Trepid.
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By Sharon Creech
