A Long Way from Chicago

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Grandma

Grandma is the protagonist of A Long Way From Chicago. Although the stories are never told from her point of view, they all revolve around her lively activities and schemes, and the sheer power of her personality has a profound influence on both Joey and Mary Alice as the shenanigans of each summer ensue. While her character arc is atypical in that she doesn’t learn a critical lesson or grow in a substantial way by the end of the book, her decisive and unconventional actions drive both the primary plotline and the development of the other characters. In the various stories presented throughout the novel, Grandma makes the plans and orchestrates how others will participate in them. Richard Peck therefore creates an environment designed to inspire hope in Grandma’s success, rather than in Joey’s or Mary Alice’s, because Grandma is the liveliest character and has the most at stake in any given predicament.

Throughout each of the short stories, Grandma stands as a force to be reckoned with and exemplifies the book’s major theme of The Supportive Power of Family. No matter what the situation happens to be, or whether or not she is technically in the wrong, she always lives life on her own terms and does what she wants, regardless of how others might view her choices. When people interfere in her business, she sternly refuses to budge or reveal anything, and Joey observes that Grandma “saved herself a lot of bother by not being the kind of person you question” (40). Ultimately, she is a strong role model for Joey and Mary Alice. From her, the siblings develop a sense of right and wrong, as well as a powerful series of lessons in when it is acceptable to break smaller rules in order to follow stronger moral precepts of what is truly right and wrong in life. Thus, they also learn how and when to bend the rules in order to manipulate events to achieve the conclusion they want. Grandma’s dismissal of societal pressures and expectations allows her to be the most authentic version of herself. She exemplifies the saying “What you see is what you get,” and she doesn’t feel guilty or timid about her choices, regardless of the uproar her actions might cause.

Joey Dowdel

The stories that make up A Long Way From Chicago are all told from Joey’s point of view. Because the narrative style reveals his thoughts about events as they occur, Joey is a more accessible character than Mary Alice, but even so, neither sibling can compete with Grandma’s larger-than-life role in the novel. Instead, Joey plays the traditional roles of loyal grandson, older brother, and developing young man. In accordance with the theme of Coming of Age, Joey’s character arc revolves around learning life lessons from his grandmother and using them to get what he wants out of life—to become a pilot. Joey tells the stories that make up A Long Way From Chicago in the style of a retrospective narrative—meaning that he tells the events of the story long after they happened, and thus his recollections of their details are influenced by a lifetime of experience. His retelling is thus flavored with the wisdom and understanding that he has gained over many years of hardship. As a result, Joey-as-narrator offers insight into how his younger self felt during the time when the stories took place, as well as supplying additional context that can only be gleaned through his adult perspective on these past events.

Mary Alice Dowdel

Mary Alice is Joey’s younger sister. Although she takes few actions independent of Joey and Grandma throughout the novel, her presence offers a critical third perspective to each event. Through Joey’s narration, and presumably through the additional understanding that he gains from discussing events with Mary Alice over the years, Joey is able to show how Mary Alice’s thoughts on certain matters differ from his own. A prime example of this dynamic occurs in Chapter 3, when Mary Alice looks back on the events of Chapter 2 with a type of traumatized fear that Joey hints is partly an act because she wants to spend the summer with her friends, rather than with Grandma. In the latter chapters, however, Mary Alice becomes a visual manifestation of how drastically both grandchildren have changed over the years. In Chapter 8, for example, Joey is struck by amazement when he watches her dance at the talent show and realizes how grown-up she seems: a revelation that forces him to acknowledge how much he himself has grown and how much Grandma has influenced them both over the years. Mary Alice’s character thus becomes a vehicle that allows Joey to make key observations about their world and experiences, offering a sense of perspective that he could not achieve on his own.