56 pages • 1 hour read
Karina Yan GlaserA Duet For Home
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022A 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
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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BetaThemes
Diverse Definitions of Family and Home
June and Tyrell have different definitions of family and home; although June is still struggling with her family’s traumatic transition to Huey House, Tyrell has already been living there for some time and has become comfortable with the connections he has made here, even if his situation is not ideal. At the beginning of the novel, June associates the concept of “home” with the presence of her mother, little sister, and father amid their familiar routine in Chinatown. When she is forced to move to Huey House, she immediately senses that these lodgings hold hidden challenges and threats and wants to leave immediately, and her sister, Maybelle, compares it to a prison. Conversely, Tyrell believes that Huey House is a home because he feels comfortable there and has close, positive bonds with people like Jeremiah and Ms. Gonzalez. Notably, he refers to himself as a “permanent resident” of this very temporary housing, and unlike June, he doesn’t want to leave until he turns 18. While June is made uneasy by Huey House’s flaws and restrictions, Tyrell becomes unsettled by examples of traditional families. For example, when he sees the Yangs embrace one another at the Mott Street Animal Shelter, he experiences a “familiar loneliness” and hears a “voice that whisper[s] that no one [i]s in his corner” (330). These inner reflections reveal that although he has managed to find a place for himself, he too is made insecure by the realities of his situation.
June and Tyrell both experience growth when they expand their ideas and accept alternate ideas of family and home. A prime example occurs when June experiences supportive and fulfilling interactions and realizes that “Huey House and the people who live[] and work[] there [a]re starting to feel like home too” (332). Her newfound outlook on the definition of home becomes particularly prominent when the narrative states, “Home was a funny thing. You thought it meant one thing, only to discover that it meant something else entirely” (333). Conversely, Tyrell comes to change his definition of home when he realizes that he does not necessarily have to remain at Huey House, and he also acknowledges that the existence of traditional family structures does not negate his own, more expansive idea of family. His shifts in mindset are further illustrated when he makes amends with Jeremiah and no longer feels the typical “panicked feeling” about being “alone in the world” when he sees the Yangs embrace at City Hall (401). In the novel’s final chapters, as Tyrell sits with June and Jerimiah, he embraces the “possibility” of finding various families and homes, and his sense of acceptance enhances the philosophical conclusions of the novel as a whole.
The Power of Classical Music
In many ways, the presence (or absence) of classical music at key moments of the story advances the novel’s implicit commentary on the nature of empowerment, and the image of the viola remains central to this theme. Without her viola, June feels distinctly disempowered, as in addition to her constant distress over her new circumstances at Huey House, she feels like she has no control, and the rule forbidding music robs her of an emotional safety valve. However, once she gets the viola, her life turns around and changes for the better. Because Tyrell loves classical music too, the viola’s presence cements their growing friendship, and it also connects June to the Vega family when Abuela arranges for her to take lessons with Domenika. June’s relationship with Domenika is crucial to the girl’s inner growth because these sessions prepare her for the audition, and Domenika also becomes instrumental in helping the main characters to get to City Hall in order to protest the HSP policy.
Significantly, the presence of classical music in June’s life indirectly leads to her newfound interest in protesting injustice. When Henrietta becomes jealous of June’s viola solo and bullies her, this conflict inspires June’s goal of standing up to even bigger bullies—the authorities implementing the hazardous HSP program. Thus, in addition to improving the protagonists’ day-to-day lives and helping them navigate challenging interactions, the presence of classical music motivates Tyrell and June to act decisively and improve their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
It is important to note that the road to empowerment takes time, as June does not immediately embrace the power of classical music and often lacks confidence and assertiveness. For example, Domenika reprimands June for sounding uncertain, and when June performs in the chapel, Ms. Vega tells her, “[Y]ou need to project confidence […] Stand and reach your hands up to the ceiling. Pretend you’re six feet tall” (316). In many ways, Domenika and Ms. Vega push June to exude the same type of authority and strength that the very tone of classical music connotes, and Domenika explicitly believes that classical music is empowering, even wearing a T-shirt that reads, “I’M A VIOLINIST—WHAT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER?” (378). Thus, by taking cues from Domenika, Ms. Vega, and Tyrell, June gradually embraces the magnificence of classical music and applies this same type of boldness to her own life. Before she auditions for the school orchestra, she does the “superhero pose,” and she uses this stance again during her participation in the City Hall press conference. By embracing the strength of classical music, June finds the courage to use her voice and stop the implementation of the HSP policy. Within the context of the novel, classical music isn’t simply an art form; it’s a dynamic that contains the ability to alter lives and people for the better.
The Choice Between Blaming Bad Luck and Taking Action
During the first several chapters of the story, June often feels that she has no control over her life, and she is left reeling after the death of Mr. Yang, the eviction, her mother’s lack of engagement, and the necessity of moving to Huey House. These layered misfortunes compel her to take a fatalistic view of her life and blame bad luck for her current challenges. As the narrative explains, “June Yang had always believed there was a cosmic distribution of fortune by which everyone had equal amounts of good and bad luck in their lives,” but “[h]er theory about luck must be wrong because it seemed as if she had had enough bad luck for two lifetimes” (14). Sensing her own lack of agency, June turns to superstition to explain her predicament, theorizing that because the number eight connotes good luck while the number four connotes death, her misfortune may be due in part to the fact that her teacher turned her lucky eight-letter name, Juniperi, into an unlucky four-letter name, June. The weight she ascribes to this theory is compounded by the fact that her family’s room in Huey House is located on the fourth floor, and when she signs in at Huey House for the first time, it is 4:40 pm. By the time the cranberry juice soaks her and her sister, June isn’t “surprised” because the “new June [i]sn’t optimistic” about her life (80).
In many ways, the viola becomes a good-luck charm for June, as its sudden return marks the restoration of the girl’s agency and confidence. As she makes strong connections with Tyrell, Domenika, and many others, she sees the viola as a counter to her bad luck. In reality, however, June’s slump in the early chapters is largely caused by an absence of purposeful behavior, and the viola restores her creativity and her determination to think of ways to counter her adversity. Now that she has her viola, she has a tool to combat the supposedly unequal allotment of “cosmic fortune,” and her life starts to improve because she begins to take steps to bring new meaning to it. For example, when Henrietta bullies her, June doesn’t attribute this behavior to “bad luck.” Instead, she uses it as motivation to confront bullies everywhere, and she goes to City Hall to protest against the implementation of HSP. After her speech, June realizes that the time is 4:40 pm, but her current success forces her to acknowledge that “bad luck” was never her primary problem. Although many aspects of her situation remain beyond her control, she has learned that by acting purposefully and pursuing her goals, she can minimize the “bad luck” in her life and remain undaunted despite her difficult circumstances.
