Alone

Maddie’s mother is kind, social, responsible, and busy. She’s remarried to Paul and has a baby, Trevor, as well as Paul’s fourth-grade twin boys to take care of full-time. Maddie lives with her mother half of the time and with her father the other half, switching off every week. Maddie struggles to adjust to different rules and routines in each household because with moving around so much, it’s hard for her to ever get used to how one place works. Her parental figures all seem busy with more pressing matters, so Maddie becomes more independent as a result. Maddie’s mom is still affectionate with her but has high expectations for chores and responsibilities. She’s also in a meditation group, though early on, Maddie makes fun of the group as well as the comfortable clothing that her mother wears to it. In general, Maddie loves her mother, but she is critical of her, focusing on flaws rather than traits she’s grateful for.

When Maddie is accidentally left alone, she never questions her parents’ will to come rescue her. She knows that once they discover she’s missing, they will come for her when they’re able to. This faith illustrates that Maddie knows her parents love her and care for her. Additionally, despite being divorced, Maddie’s parents are friendly with each other, making communication and cooperation for the well-being of their daughter easier.

However, Maddie’s attitude toward her mother (and the rest of her family) does change once she’s left alone. At first, Maddie wants a break from her family and the responsibilities that come with being part of that family. This is why Maddie plans a secret slumber party with her friends, which results in her being abandoned for years. However, once her family is gone, Maddie focuses on their strengths and how nice it would be to have them back. Instead of viewing her mother’s meditation techniques and comfortable clothing as uncool, she now wears that same clothing because it’s practical, and she uses the same meditation techniques to help herself stay calm. Maddie compares herself at times to a “ghost” haunting a “ghost town,” but her family members are also “ghosts” whose influence she benefits from, despite not having them there in the flesh.

Maddie’s dad is kind, responsible, and busy, just like her mom. He is slightly more relaxed in terms of rules, partially because he does not have a baby or other children who live with him full-time. Maddie loves both her parents, and even her stepparents, but seems to resent the arrangement of switching houses each week. Once Maddie is abandoned, the task of switching houses for summer and winter seems even more daunting. However, being familiar with both houses ends up being a huge advantage because Maddie needs to move with the changing seasons once there is no electricity or running water.

Maddie’s dad taught her various skills and bits of knowledge that she utilizes to survive. Most poignantly, Maddie decides never to leave her hometown based on her father’s advice to “stay put” if she is lost; this advice is what ultimately allows Maddie to reunite with her family when they return. Maddie also relies on her father’s house to survive, including his food, clothing, and other items. Maddie’s father’s voice often illustrates Resourcefulness and Risk Evaluation as Key to Survival, as well as the value of family even when they’re not physically present.

Paul is Maddie’s stepfather, who lives with Maddie’s mother, baby Trevor, and the twins Elliot and James. Paul is friendly toward Maddie, but she is often rude to him, either ignoring him entirely or giving short, basic answers despite his multiple attempts to engage her. Paul is kind and responsible like Maddie’s other parental figures, so she admits she doesn’t know why she’s sometimes rude to him. It seems she is still resentful about having to switch houses, even though she’s also grateful for all her parental figures and siblings. She sometimes compares Paul to her father, pointing out, for example, that Paul doesn’t play any musical instruments like her dad and Jennifer do, but he still loves music. This detail seems to suggest that Maddie views Paul as inferior to her father.

After being alone for a while, Maddie shifts her attitude toward her stepparents in a unique way. In addition to learning to appreciate them more (as she does with her whole family), Maddie learns that she doesn’t have to choose one parent over the other or choose her biological parents over her stepparents. Her father has certain strengths that Paul lacks, and vice versa. This does not mean that one is better than the other; it means that each parental figure is a vital part of the whole big family. Coming to appreciate the different ways her family members each contribute helps Maddie survive on her own, and she starts viewing her stepparents as supplemental resources rather than people who are less important than her biological parents. At the end, all of them are important to Maddie in different ways.

Jennifer is Maddie’s stepmother, having married Maddie’s dad after the divorce. Jennifer lives with Maddie’s dad, so she is there while Maddie stays with her dad for half the time. Jennifer is social and busy with her career and hobbies, similar to Maddie’s dad. Like Paul, she is friendly and kind toward Maddie, but Maddie resists becoming too close to her, seemingly out of some dutiful feelings toward her mother. Maddie is somewhat rude toward her stepparents despite her biological parents and stepparents all seeming to get along well with each other. However, at the beginning, Maddie is still focused on division rather than union.

By the end of the novel, Maddie changes her perspective and ultimately views herself as a center that unifies the whole family. Part of Maddie’s journey is her coming to terms with the nature of her family. The poems surrounding her encounter with the “model home,” a term that Maddie resents, represent Maddie’s frustrations about not having a nuclear family. At first, Maddie is mad she doesn’t have a nuclear family. Then, she’s mad that the world around her doesn’t accommodate this situation better. In the end, she just wants her family back, exactly as it is. She ultimately sees her stepparents and the fact that her family is blended with multiple houses all as blessings that help her survive and also overcome loneliness.

Elliot and James are Maddie’s younger stepbrothers (sons of her stepdad, Paul), who are in fourth grade at the novel’s beginning. They are smart and studious, both in the accelerated program at school. Maddie is also smart, and she often helps her brothers with their homework, demonstrating how helping others gives her a sense of purpose. Maddie notes that Elliot and James have a special connection as twins and that she’s envious of this kind of relationship. This observation suggests that Maddie is already somewhat lonely at the novel’s beginning, and it also foreshadows how truly lonely she is about to become. Maddie’s loneliness at the novel’s beginning is mostly due to her hang-ups about communicating openly with the people around her. For example, she lies to her mother, and she also apparently feels awkward communicating with James, who is deaf. Other characters use sign language, which Maddie doesn’t seem to know. Maddie blames her inability to communicate with James (without the help of Elliot) on the fact that she only lives with them half the time.

Elliot’s book report is significant in the novel because it demonstrates how the sibling relationship between Maddie and Elliot does not just go one way; they both help each other in turn. Maddie gives him advice on the book report, but the actual report, which Elliot finished himself, makes Maddie appreciate his insight and wisdom even more despite her family’s absence. It’s difficult at times for Maddie, like the protagonist of The Island of Blue Dolphins, to find food and water, maintain a suitable shelter in extreme weather conditions, and protect herself from wild or hungry dogs and coyotes. However, as Elliot predicted, Maddie’s greatest challenge is not these obstacles, but the cumulative effect of loneliness that builds up over years with no human contact. In order to cope with this loneliness, Maddie does a few things. First, she befriends the dog George and takes care of him; George gives her purpose as well as company and affection. Second, she “conjures” the “ghosts” of her family members by living in their houses, using their stuff, and even sifting through things to find secret treasures, such as notes or book reports they’d written but that she’d never read before. More than objects, she treasures the things her family said and the memories she shared with them, which sustain her along with the hope that they will return one day.

Trevor is Maddie’s baby half-brother, born to her mother and Paul. During the weeks she stays with them, Maddie shares a bedroom with Trevor, often babysits him, and assists with feedings and diaper changes. As a big sister to a baby as well as twin fourth graders, Maddie takes on certain “motherly” duties and roles. She loves Trevor in a special way because he is a baby who needs her help and because she isn’t envious of Trevor like she is of the twins, with their close relationship. Still, Maddie resents having to share a room with Trevor, and she also resents the additional responsibilities that are placed on her due to having a baby brother. Maddie seems to blame her mother and Paul for these responsibilities more than she blames Trevor, but it’s still an important factor in her decision to have a secret sleepover in the first place. She wants a break from the “adult” responsibilities of doing chores and taking care of her brothers.

Like many babies, Trevor is curious, happy, social, and needy. Maddie enjoys playing with him and taking care of him. Even from the beginning of the novel, she seems to draw purpose from caring for the needs of others, whether they be animals or humans. Maddie’s relationship with Trevor evolves in much the same way as her relationships with the rest of her family. At first, she loves him, but she is too focused on the ways in which he holds her back instead of the ways in which he enriches her life. Once he’s gone, she reflects that she’d give anything to have him back. Now, having wanted a break seems silly, considering the break ended up being much too long.

Ashanti and Emma are Maddie’s friends from school with whom she plans to have a secret group sleepover one Friday night at her grandparents’ vacant apartment. Due to the novel’s unique plot, Ashanti and Emma are not “on-page” in the book much, like the rest of the human characters. However, these friends are still present through memories and objects. Additionally, Ashanti and Emma help spearhead the plot: If not for the failed secret slumber party, Maddie wouldn’t have been stranded alone.

Through enduring the extended absence of other people, Maddie learns to appreciate the true value of family as well as friendship. She longs for companionship from these friends she used to have nearby. Unable to see them in the flesh, Maddie uses the same strategy she uses with her family and “conjures” them by spending time in their houses, smelling their pillows and perfumes, using their things, and reading notes they wrote. This might not be a substitute for in-person human connection, but as a coping mechanism, it helps Maddie get through her prolonged period of loneliness. Maddie draws strength through her friendships even when her friends are not physically present.

George is a dog who previously lived with Maddie’s mother’s next-door neighbors, the Nortons. However, after the evacuation, Maddie finds George, who was left behind like most (or all) pets. As soon as she finds him and decides to take him home, Maddie’s spirits improve. George is not a human, but he still provides Maddie with comfort, safety, purpose, and companionship. Maddie also gains satisfaction from taking care of George. She used to draw purpose from caring for her younger brothers, although she sometimes resented the duty. Now, she happily cares for George, and her responsibility to him gives her additional reason to try her best to survive. George and Maddie help fulfill each other’s needs: He gives Maddie companionship, purpose, warnings about storms, and protection against wild animals. In return, she gives him several of the same things—George needed someone to feed him as well as keep him company after being abandoned by his family. George and Maddie help each other through hardships like storms, injuries, long winters, and crushing sadness.

Even though George and Maddie have a special companionship that benefits them both, Maddie still views George differently from another human. She still feels lonelier than she would if a friend or brother of hers had been left behind instead of a dog. This sense of loneliness largely has to do with language and shared experience, two things that make it easier to bond more deeply with other humans. However, as a domesticated species, George walks the line between nature and civilization in a special way. Over time, Maddie has more in common with George than she originally did because she also begins to feel somewhat “wild” or feral and less civilized or even less human. As this change occurs in Maddie, her relationship with George deepens.