House Arrest

In the fairytale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the dwarves protect Snow White, allowing her to live with them to escape the stepmother who is trying to kill her. The dwarves’ names are their defining characteristics (e.g., Sleepy, Bashful, Grumpy). Several times, Timothy refers to the “dwarves” in his head who he similarly names for his emotions and states of being. Mrs. Bainbridge encourages Timothy to identify his emotions as such so that he can gain a sense of agency over them. This is evident in Week 18 when he names the emotions he feels when she does not allow him to use her computer: “Those are not dwarves./They are feelings, OK?” (90).

Calling his emotions “dwarves” gives them a life force of their own. They drive Timothy’s actions without forethought, which leads to both positive and negative consequences. When attempting to explain, in Week 2, why he stole the wallet to pay for Levi’s medicine, he says that his “head was full of fairy-tale dwarves/named Foggy and Frosty and Sleepy and Crazy” (14). In Week 49, reflecting on his decision to participate in the Carnival of Giving despite his fears and his mother’s objections, he expresses a desire to dedicate the carnival poster “to the dwarves in my head/the ones that wouldn’t give up/the ones names/Scared and Determined/Angry and Stubborn,” adding, “[t]hank you, dwarves,/for not screwing this up” (242). His final “thank you” to the dwarves suggests that Timothy continues to see his emotions as somewhat out of his control.

Throughout the book, Timothy’s friend José and his father work on the car that Timothy eventually steals at the end of Winter. The car represents Timothy’s striving to overcome his family hardships and self-control problems. When Mr. Jimenez first acquires it, the car is broken down and useless, “a giant rusted turtle with no guts inside” (45). He eventually gets the car running and takes the boys for a drive, but the engine catches fire. Mr. Jimenez does not give up, and by the end of the book, the car is functional enough for Timothy to drive it to the hospital with Levi.

Timothy marvels that Mr. Jimenez and José “actually took that hunk of junk/and made a real car out of it again” (210). This shows Timothy that even when all seems lost, the potential exists to repair and renew, which is what Timothy is trying to do with his family unit, with his brother’s medical condition, and with himself and his decision-making. When Timothy needs it, the car comes through, enabling him to get Levi to the hospital in time to save his life. Timothy also comes through for his family, insisting on applying for the Carnival of Giving that brings his family much-needed funds and persisting in his attempts to contact Dr. Sawyer. Though Timothy ends up in juvenile detention, he knows that he can achieve success in his endeavors. Hope is not lost for him.

In Week 48, Timothy attends the Carnival of Giving with Levi, Annie, Mrs. Bainbridge, James, Marisol, and the Jimenez family. Everyone who has supported Timothy joins him at the carnival. He is not planning to give a speech but is moved to do so after seeing how Levi reacts to being “[o]ut in public for the first time/in a long time” and “trying to figure out the world/outside of his four walls (234). Seeing Levi inspires Timothy to reflect on his “own four walls” that are “made of James and Mrs. B/and Mom/and now José’s house, sometimes, too” (234). Watching Levi’s “walls open up like that” invites Timothy to see how his “walls” have “made me open up/instead of the other way around” (235). Being on house arrest may seem to be about containing Timothy within the literal walls of his home, but the reality is the opposite. Walls come to symbolize a support network that has helped him understand his feelings and responses even if he has not yet learned to control them. 

Timothy notices a freckle on Isa’s elbow in Week 23 when he and Isa are searching online for a doctor to help Levi. He describes it as “a really nice freckle” but also “slightly gross” because it has “a hair in the middle” (119). Timothy is excited when Isa finds Dr. Sawyer, who can perform the surgery Levi needs, but becomes disheartened when he realizes the doctor is in Cincinnati, which “[m]ight as well be Antarctica” (119). As he drops his head onto the desk, Isa pats his shoulder, and Timothy sees her freckle again, writing “so pretty/so gross/Nothing is perfect, is it?” (120). Timothy’s description of the freckle as both “pretty” and “gross” shows that something can be imperfect but still precious and loved—like Timothy himself, like Levi, and like their family.