Rules

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-15

Chapters 16-22

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Every Soul Is Isolated and Challenged

Many of the main characters in Rules face special challenges and major obstacles in their lives. David has been diagnosed with autism and Jason cannot speak or walk on his own.” These issues also tend to isolate them: David does not comprehend the motives and social mores of other individuals; Jason’s ability to converse is limited by the vocabulary in his word book. With her friend Melissa gone for the summer, the one person with whom Catherine could discuss anything is absent. She faces the daily challenge of caring for a brother who will fully follow the rules she establishes for him. She receives little nurturing from her parents, who are absorbed in concern for her brother—even though they seem oblivious to his behaviors. Likewise, Kristi has been dropped into a new setting where she knows no one and is shuttled back and forth between separated parents. Kristi’s greatest obstacle is her fixation upon romance. Catherine’s parents do not demonstrate any closeness or depth of communication with one another. Both are focused upon their careers and their own interactions with David—though they disagree about how he should be treated. Jason’s mother, Elizabeth Morehouse, is determined to protect and nurture her son. She is willing to allow Catherine to interact with Jason only so long as she believes Catherine will not hurt his feelings. Catherine’s communication with her is sporadic and uncertain.

In their interactions with each other, the characters in Rules demonstrate unique but universal brokenness and recognize that every individual is afflicted with special challenges and inabilities. As Catherine, Jason, and David demonstrate, it is possible for people to attack their individual obstacles successfully. It is also possible, to reach out in trust to others and find ways expressing one’s deepest truths, fears, and hopes.

People Are More Than the Challenges They Face

Rules illustrates how a person’s identity is not limited to the challenges that individual faces. For example, David is not his autism; autism is one aspect of his life but not his identity. This theme is demonstrated by observing the interaction between Catherine and Jason, who blossoms because of their new relationship. By adding adventurous new words to his communication book, she enters Jason’s inner world that was previously unknown to anyone else: He loves the sensation of running; he feels incomplete; he sometimes wishes he were not alive; he hates lies and deception; he lives for music. These inner truths remained unexpressed until Catherine engaged with Jason. Just so, in the final scene of the book, as Catherine and David stare at their reflection in the fishbowl where a goldfish is inspecting a plastic wizard toy, Catherine at last begins to see inside David, to recognize the magic he has brought into their family.

Rules highlights that everyone experiences hindrances and obstacles of some type—everything from different abilities to post traumatic stress and beyond. Whatever diagnosis or label may be affixed to one’s condition, however, that challenge is not the sum of one’s character. Thus, Rules encourages a look beyond the obvious challenges to engage the inner person.

Words Are Important, Though Not the Only Form of Communication

In Rules, communication comes in a great variety of forms. To be sure, the characters are always searching for the right words. Catherine’s mom asks her not to fill in the words for David, who is supposed to learn to make his own word choices. Even without a vast vocabulary, however, through his emotions and actions, David always manages to communicate what he wants people to know. Also, David is adroit at using words symbolically, as when he quotes Arnold Lobel’s book, Frog and Toad Together, to express what he is feeling. As Catherine supplies newer, more powerful words for Jason, his ability to communicate soars and he becomes willing to seek adventures and sensory experiences. When Catherine apologizes to Jason for refusing to go to the dance, she produces new words for his book that take their relationship to a remarkably high level of transparency, though she is catching up with the openness that Jason has already achieved. All the while the importance of a growing vocabulary is shown, and it is evident that there are many other ways to establish and refine communication.

The opportunity for communication between Catherine and Jason is created not through anything either said but through Catherine’s art, which contained a subtle request for communication. Beyond his word book, which he uses effectively, Jason is also adept at communicating with the sounds he makes of sharp laughter, gasps, and hisses. Catherine realizes clearly that music can communicate profound emotions when she listens in awe to the piano melody Jason has written.

Other characters in the book communicate with clarity and effectiveness in non-verbal manners. Even Catherine’s guinea pigs with their different noises express themselves in ways Catherine plainly grasps. Catherine understands the subtle meanings of her father’s huff when she confronts him about neglecting her, the look-over-the-glasses of her mother when she thinks Catherine has been impertinent, and the howl her brother makes when he can no longer be patient. Symbolism is a higher form of communication, going beyond the meaning of the words used and implying deeper truths. For instance, when David covers his ears against the sound of the wind or the rain, it is because many times, noise is amplified for those with autism. For David, the sound of rain is too powerful to endure. Words are the most nuanced, effective form of communication—but not the only form of communication.