61 pages • 2 hours read
Rebecca SteadGoodbye Stranger
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Technology and the Internet
Adolescence is difficult on its own, and the use of social media can further complicate this already tumultuous phase of life. Though adults are just as likely to overuse their phones, adolescents and teenagers often use technology as the main vehicle for their social lives. This presents unique problems as social media can present unrealistic, curated examples of body image and lifestyle, and impulsive posts, texts, and photos can have lasting negative effects due to the ease with which online content can proliferate. Stead establishes the use of technology as a pervasive motif in the narrative, giving a realistic portrayal of teenage life in the digital age. As Em becomes more popular, she closely monitors the comment section of her profile, constantly internalizing how others view her. She develops a romantic relationship with an older boy based solely on text messages and little interpersonal communication. David and Julie send out Em’s photo to many people who now have access to something they did not ask to see, and kids like Sherm are put into an awkward position. Using words and images to hurt others is nothing new, but with the power of social media to reach large amounts of people quickly, cyberbullying provides a new way to hurt another person. Em’s peers drop nasty notes in her locker that she alone can see, but the cruel comments left publicly on her page can be seen by all.
Teenage girls are particularly susceptible to the perils of creating an online identity. By posting one picture, girls open themselves up to scrutiny by both friends and strangers who can study and pick apart the photo and decide how they want to view or judge that person. Em’s comment section turns into a free for all once the bra photo is leaked and peers’ praise turns to bullying. Celeste scolds Bridge for not being more internet savvy: “[…] Bridge, did you know there are like a hundred thousand videos on the Internet about how to put your hair up or do your makeup? It’s this whole world of information” (86). Even though mostly staying offline has been healthy for Bridge, Celeste makes her feel inferior for not conforming to social norms of beauty that influencers promote online. At Halloween, Bridge dissects their group photo on Em’s page, and though she at first loved the way she looked, by the end of her analysis, she decides she doesn’t like it, and she does not like how people will see her. Even Jamie’s pedometer, a relatively innocuous piece of technology, turns sinister as it becomes an obsession that controls his life. In the end, Stead’s characters are healthiest when they are together in person and doing the hard work of creating relationships face-to-face and not through an algorithm or a screen.
Bodies and Physical Sensations
Adolescence brings strange, awkward, and sometimes traumatic changes to a person’s physical body. Stead establishes bodies as a motif in the novel as her characters deal with everything from pimples to dental surgery, and even more serious issues like the physical effects of posttraumatic stress and negative body image. Bridge, Celeste, and Em embody these motifs most in the narrative.
Though Bridge heals from her physical wounds, the trauma from the accident remains embedded in her psyche and presents itself in temporary paralysis. After the accident, Bridge learns to be intimately in tune with her body but also knows there is little she can do to control it. Similarly, in her Valentine’s Day narration, Celeste refers to the pain of being trapped inside a body with emotions that she can’t escape: “Sometimes your body feels like a cage for all the stuff inside” (106). Celeste obsesses over her blemish, constantly looking at her face in the mirror, and is concerned with the shape of her body. However, not all the physical sensations in the narrative are traumatic. When Bridge sees Sherm, she gets a tingling sensation and is acutely aware of his unique bready scent. For Bridge, her attraction to Sherm grows not just out of what she sees with her eyes, but how she experiences him with her other senses as well.
In the same way, Em’s bodily changes are beyond her control, and she is powerless to regulate the way others view her new curves. The development of breasts and shapely hips are a sign of sexual maturation, yet Em’s peers oversexualize the changes and falsely assume certain things about her character just by the shape of her body. When Patrick asks for pictures, the body part photo exchange is at first strange and clunky but represents teens’ natural interest in each other’s physical bodies. Even after the photo scandal, both Em and Bridge’s mom eschew shaming the act, reminding their daughters that their bodies are not evil and belong to them: “Especially your body, Bridge. You earned it back, little by little” (185). In the narrative, the body and all its complex sensations come to symbolize humanity and realism in the story. Stead’s characters are fleshy and real and experience the disorienting yet fascinating changes that occur as the body matures and heals.
Games
Throughout the novel, childhood games serve as metaphors for the risks and challenges that the characters face as they pass from childhood into adolescence and adulthood. Bridge’s accident is a result of playing the Punch Buggy Game, in which children punch each other when they see a Volkswagen Beetle car, and in a split second, an innocent game turns tragic. As Bridge considers Jamie and Alex’s step competition, she remembers when she and Jamie played Mother May I: “You may take two giant steps. / Mother, may I? / Yes, you may” (131). The pleasant childhood memory highlights the unhealthy tone of Alex and Jamie’s game. The step bet game becomes manipulative when Alex uses the competition to control Jamie and attempt to humiliate him in front of Adrienne, who is 18 and much more confident than the younger teens. As adolescents transition from children to teenagers, they hold onto memories and familiar rituals like childish games, but Stead explores how those same games in the hands of conflicted teens can become emotionally dangerous.
Celeste recalls playing the Hot Lava game with her friends during which they imagined that the floor is made of lava, and they must jump from one object to another without touching the ground. The jumps require quick decision-making and taking calculated risks lest they get “out” of the game. Similarly, Celeste learns that taking risks and making mistakes can have consequences that might leave her “out” of the game of friendship. She begins identifying places, people, and situations that represent “hot lava” to her or are off limits because they remind her of her failures. Celeste outlines Vinny’s “games,” which become increasingly mean like forcing people to eat things that make them sick or bullying them through an invasive game of Truth or Dare. Vinny’s games are her way of asserting her power over others and are a toxic distortion of an innocent childhood game. Bully David Marcel finds a way to turn an innocent game of “Telephone” during the intruder drill into a humiliating incident for Em. In these cases and others, Stead uses games as a symbol of nostalgia for childhood and an emblem of the challenges and risks of growing up.
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By Rebecca Stead
