48 pages • 1 hour read
Gail GilesShattering Glass
Fiction | Novel | YA | 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.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Equipment Room
The gym’s equipment room simultaneously symbolizes a space of refuge and secrets. One of the main settings of the novel, the equipment room is where the friends often meet to workout, finalize plans, and it’s also where Simon ends up being murdered. Important to note is that Rob considers the equipment room his “office” because he’s the one who somehow got a key. In this way, the equipment room is also symbolic of Rob’s character: the equipment room is where the friends consistently meet to workout, share secrets, and fortify plans, and Rob is the person who holds the friends together. Just as the friends meet in secret in the equipment room, Rob is secretive about his past. Finally, when Simon is murdered, the equipment room is dark. This allows the characters to commit the violent acts against Simon without seeing the immediate damage. Similarly, Rob’s secrets remain hidden for most of the novel, but it’s only when they come to light that everyone realizes the damage that has been done.
Technology
In the Chapter 12 opening quote, Simon’s dad essentially blames the school district’s lack of a security system as the reason things got so out of hand. The emphasis that’s placed on technology is a theme through the novel, and in general the far-reaching abilities of technology are viewed negatively. This idea can best be understood through Simon, who is the novel’s technological genius. While Simon initially uses his expertise for “good,” by clearing his friends’ absences, manipulating Young’s schedule so that he can take Creative Writing without his dad knowing, and getting his friends elected to their favorite positions at the dance, these same good deeds turn sour when Simon uses what he’s done to blackmail the people he initially helped. In addition, Simon manipulates Lance’s attendance records to get him in trouble, and he finds out that Rob’s dad sexually abused him via tech and uses this information against him. While the technology itself is neutral, the way it’s used and abused by Simon upholds the moral ambiguity theme, forcing the characters to question whether the good is worth the bad that inevitably comes with it.
Sex
While sex doesn’t explicitly play a large role in the novel, trauma from molestation/rape is what creates an unspoken bond between Young and Rob. Both Young and Rob were sexually molested by older men who were close to them, but the two characters handle the trauma in different ways. For Rob, he desires control over everyone and everything. This desire could be viewed as an attempt to take back the agency that was stolen from him by his father, who molested him. Young’s reacts in a nearly-opposite way from Rob, going along with whatever he is told to do. In the same way that Young initially thought the sexual molestation was his fault, since he went along with it, his inability to stand up for what he wants can be viewed as a remnant of his inability to say no to the camp counselor. These differences, however, lead to the same conclusion when it comes to Simon’s death: while it’s Rob who takes the action, Young doesn’t stop him.
It’s also important to note that the only other time sex is seen in the novel is when Young and Ronna are dating. Despite Young’s profession of loving Ronna after this act, he breaks up with her because of Rob’s plan. In this way, it can be said that sex in the novel both unites and divides characters; the traumatic effects of the molestation unite Young and Rob, but the consensual sex between Young and Ronna isn’t enough to keep them together.
