56 pages • 1 hour read
Jennifer NivenHolding Up The Universe
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Pages 163-213Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 163-213 Summary
This marks the beginning of the book’s next section, “Three Years Earlier.” The narration flashes back to the night of Libby’s rescue,elaboratingon it from both Jack’s and Libby’s perspectives. Readers learn that the day after Libby’s rescue, Jack snuck into the Strouts’ house and took one of Libby’s six copies of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Around this time, he also begins to see signs of his prosopagnosia, concluding, “There is something wrong with me” (179). Deciding that Libby would probably understand his struggles better than anyone, he mails the book to Libby’s hospital room with a note stating, “I thought you might want this. I want you to know I’m rooting for you” (183-4).
Conversely, Libby explains the experience from her perspective. She says that her anxiety attack felt like being “suffocated” and “strangled” (169). Libby’s father has called for help, and they tear away the roof of Libby’s house to lift her to safety. Rather than feel embarrassed, Libby is grateful that she is “not going to die in there, in that house” (173). In the hospital, Libby’s doctor, Dr. Weiss, says they need to understand why Libby has had a panic attack and why she has gained weight. Libby receivesJack’s package the day she leaves the hospital; she is touched by the anonymous gesture. When she gets home, she tells Rachel Mendes, her counselor, tutor, and caregiver, that the girl on the news is “not who I am” and decides to find the true Libby (183).
The next section of the book, titled “Now,” moves back to the present where Libby begins receiving a flood of taunting messages in her locker. The bullying is taking its toll.She contemplates withdrawing from Martin Van Buren High but changes her mind when a vacancy suddenly opens up on the Damsels drill team. After school, Libby and Jack attend the first Conversation Circle session. There, Libby thoughtfully explains to Mr. Levine and the other students the “Why” behind her anxiety and weight gain. She reveals that after her mother died of a brain hemorrhage, she felt alone and was “always worrying” (205). Her father loved to cook, and his cooking—and Libby’s eating—was their way of dealing with grief.
After the meeting, Libby confronts Jack in the parking lot and asks him why he gave her the apology letter, but the conversation quickly turns to Jack’s prosopagnosia. In explaining the condition to Libby, Jack begins to think once again that Libby may be the only person who can truly understand his struggles. Jack thinks to himself, “It’s almost as if she’s interviewing me, but I don’t mind because it’s the first time I’ve talked about this with anyone […] Here’s a person who might actually be able to get who I am” (210).
Pages 163-213 Analysis
Libby’s comment on page 152 that “only small people—the inside-small kind—don’t like you to be big” (152) encapsulates several of the novel’s central themes. Taken literally, the comment is about Libby’s weight; however, Libby is quick to clarify what she means by “small” people. Libby argues that the only people who care about another person’s size are those who in some way feel self-conscious about their own bodies—their own external identities—and therefore feel the need to take out their frustration on others. Even beyond that, weight in Holding up the Universe can be taken metaphorically: a “big” person can be big in terms of personality, as well, and people who are self-conscious about their own personalities may attempt to bring down those they secretly admire to feel better about themselves. Jack seems to be learning this lesson for himself as this idea aligns with his “better to be the hunter” philosophy.
The quotation also undergirds another of the novel’s themes: the benefits of coming out of one’s comfort zone versus the risks of staying home where it is safe. Libby knows all too well the dangers of stagnation, given she had to be forcibly removed from her home. The dangers of being stuck, then, are very real to her. Metaphorically, however, she also knows that “staying home” in the sense that one never steps outside of one’scomfort zone also leads to the type of stagnation that debilitated her years ago. Libby does not follow this philosophy perfectly, though, and readers still see her struggle between embracing her free spirit and her desire to fit in and live a normal life. It is a struggle likely to be familiar to Niven’s audience who must navigate the tension between the advice to “be themselves” and the immense pressure to conform to their peers’—and society’s—expectations.
Furthermore, the flashback to the night of Libby’s rescue, as well as Jack and Libby’s conversation after the Conversation Circle, serve to show that the two seemingly dissimilar characters have more in common than they think. More specifically, Jack realizes that Libby may be the only person who can truly sympathize with his own struggle to navigate the feeling that he is broken and something is wrong with him. Jack risks the same stagnation as Libby; in Jack’s case, though, his way of “staying home” is to cling to his reputation—his identity—as the popular, outgoing jock-type figure, even though he is obviously not happy with it. By bringing these two characters together—one a popular, likable figure and the other a social outcast except among her few close friends—Niven shows readers how two seemingly opposite people can have more in common than initially meets the eye. In many ways, Niven shows readers the truth of the human condition: despite all the differences society heaps upon people, everyone shares similar experiences such asfear, personal hardship, and the need for acceptance. It is those experiences, Niven argues, that connect people together.
These ideas align with yet another of the novel’s main themes: sight. People, especially teenagers, tend to form first impressions of their peers based on what they initially see. Usually that consists of physical, surface-level features, like weight. In fact, until the very end of the novel, Jack believes that Libby’s weight is her primary identifier and his only way of recognizing her in a sea of strangers. It is not until he comes to terms with his own imperfect identity that he “sees” Libby for who she really is—caring, spunky, and tough. By having Jack and Libby come together despite their differences, Niven teaches her readers to see more than just the outside and to recognize that identity is more than just the physical features that form first impressions.
