68 pages • 2 hours read
John David AndersonPosted
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Words Can’t Be Taken Back
Throughout Posted, John David Anderson explores the permanence of words and their potential effects on people. Different words mean different things to different people, and words may be assigned meanings they don’t inherently carry. With sticky notes, bullying, and character reactions being core components in Posted, the book showcases the power of words, good and bad.
Sticky notes are used to deliver all sorts of messages from harmless to hurtful to thought-provoking and everything in between. While the harmless messages (i.e., notes about celebrities) have little impact on anyone, the hurtful and thought-provoking messages carry more weight. Rose receives two threatening sticky notes. Though the notes fail to elicit a reaction, they may still bother her on some level not privy to the eye. They also distress Wolf, who feels hurt on Rose’s behalf. For Mr. Sword’s assignment in Chapter 10, Wolf writes that “words are ghosts that can haunt us forever” (163), which gets to the crux of how words hurt. Words are the spirit of how a person feels, and like ghosts, words can follow others, haunting and hurting them long after they’re seen or spoken. One of the group’s bullies feels threatened by Wolf’s message, showing how it carries two different meanings. To Wolf, it is a simple truth about his own ghosts. To the bully, the message forces him to confront the idea that his words hurt others, something he doesn’t want to face.
The bully’s reaction to Wolf’s quote reveals how bullying and words are harmful. Bullies often pick on others because they’re trying to hide their own perceived weaknesses. There may be words that haunt them, but rather than facing their own pain, they inflict the same pain on others, hoping it will somehow heal their hurt. In reality, these actions only set a cycle in motion. No one feels better, and more people end up feeling worse. “TOTAL ROMAN” is an example of how bullies use words to create harm. Though the phrase itself has nothing to do with being gay, the bullies manipulate it to be an insult toward Wolf. Bullying doesn’t stop at the intended victim. While the words undoubtedly do Wolf the most harm, his friends feel the sting of his pain as well, which leads to their own feelings of helplessness when they realize there’s nothing they can do to make things better.
Anderson uses character reactions to show how the same words can have different impacts. Rose receives two threatening sticky notes. Though one is a picture, the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” comes into play. The image of a dead moose could mean any of many threats or insults, and it’s left to Rose (the recipient) to apply her own words to said image. While Wolf is bothered by the notes, Rose shrugs them off. Ultimately, they do bother her, but she understands that words only have as much power as she gives them. By paying them little mind, she lessens the bullies’ ability to inflict pain. By contrast, the highly sensitive Wolf gives Rose’s notes more power, and as a result, they do more damage, even though they aren’t meant for him.
Words have different meanings for different people, and the amount of power they hold varies from person to person. By exploring different reactions to various types of sticky notes, Anderson shows how words can be used to great effect, either to help or hurt. Regardless of a word’s intent, its interpretation is what matters, and this interpretation has a lasting impact that can never be fully taken back.
Anonymity Gives People Power
In response to Ruby Sandels sending a nasty text message, cell phones are banned at BMS. However, the ban doesn’t stop messages from being sent or change the tone of said messages. People think the same way with or without their phones; all removing technology does is take away the option for these messages to be private. Even when exercising caution, some students—like Wolf—find themselves at the receiving end of public shaming. Through the contents of sticky notes and technology, Posted shows how being anonymous makes people feel powerful.
None of the sticky notes posted throughout the story are signed by their authors. When the notes are only passed among Eric and his group, anonymity doesn’t matter as much because the boys know each other’s handwriting and writing style, which makes it easy to glean who wrote each message and its subtext. Once the rest of the student body starts using sticky notes, anonymity soon morphs into a lack of responsibility. The ability to leave messages for all to read that can’t be traced to their origins emboldens the students. At the beginning, the notes being posted are harmless, but once students realize no one knows who’s saying what, the nasty words once reserved for texts and social media start to appear on sticky notes. Anonymity offers the false idea that there will be no consequences for cruelty.
When sticky notes take the place of cell phones at BMS, it quickly becomes apparent that cell phones were never the problem. As Eric observes, the sticky notes are “no different than people posting stuff online or sending a text” (148). While this is true so far as contents go—people say the same things they would online—there is a difference in how people are identified or not identified. The sticky notes offer a degree of anonymity that the internet does not. Social media automatically applies an identity to anything posted, which means people can be held accountable for everything they post. Taking the time to put something to paper requires a commitment to an idea. With the ability to delete posts and texts, the internet and phones offer a false sense of security as it appears words can always be removed or taken back. In reality, even if posts are deleted, they are saved somewhere and are never truly gone, which also attests to how words in any form are permanent.
Whether written down on paper or on a computer, words can be traced back to who said them. Regardless of a message’s content, people feel braver putting their thoughts where they feel less exposed (sticky notes or texts). The lack of face-to-face confrontations in Posted speaks to how people wish to keep their thoughts private and only share them if they believe there won’t be consequences—which makes Eric and Bench’s spat near the end of the book especially important. Anonymity makes people brave, but it does not guarantee protection.
Similarities and Differences Are Illusions
In Chapter 2, Eric introduces his theory of sociomagnetic homogeny, which states that a person gravitates toward “the crowd that reminds you the most of you” (21). When Eric, Deedee, Wolf, and Bench felt like they didn’t fit in anywhere else, this lack of belonging brought them together. Over the course of the book, their friendship is tested, and comparisons between them and other groups show how similarities aren’t always visible. The evolution of the “tribe,” other friend groups, and the resolution to the “TOTAL ROMAN” incident shows how people are more alike than they are different.
Eric, Deedee, Wolf, and Bench are introduced as best friends of two years. Various chapters show moments from their past in which they helped and depended on each other, as well as moments of fun. The boys feel comfortable in each other’s company because they feel uncomfortable among other groups, and they believe this is what makes them close. In truth, they are each very different and have their own interests, and the events of the story bring these differences to the foreground. The addition of Rose challenges the group’s dynamic. Bench pulls away from the group, using Rose as an excuse to do something he long wanted to do, and the other boys grow closer as they incorporate Rose into their lives. Rose is as different from the boys as they are from each other, but appearances don’t matter. Underneath, the preteens are more similar than different, which is why the group is able to reform itself in Bench’s absence.
Other friend groups show how similar people (or at least people who act similarly) flock together. When Bench starts to pull away from the tribe, he gravitates toward other football players. The football team symbolizes Eric’s theory of sociomagnetic homogeny—the football players cluster together because they have a sport in common. Eric’s theory also applies to the bullies, if in a less obvious way. The bullies share an affinity for intimidation and a desire to build themselves up by putting others down. Though they have their own insecurities and are not so different from their targets, they hide behind a façade of toughness to make themselves appear (and feel) better.
Following “TOTAL ROMAN” being written on Wolf’s locker, the students and staff of BMS band together. The bully who defaced the locker did so to make Wolf feel ashamed of his perceived difference. While Wolf is negatively affected by the message, others come to his defense. People are people regardless of their individual traits, and the support given to Wolf shows that most people see each other as similar to them rather than different.
People come in all types; the presence or absence of any one characteristic doesn’t make a person more or less than anyone else. Similarities and differences are categories that people construct to feel as if they fit in somewhere. The shift in dynamics within the tribe, the other friend groups at BMS, and the support for Wolf following “TOTAL ROMAN” show how similarities and differences don’t really matter. People stick to their groups out of a need for belonging and safety, but should someone be in need, those who exercise compassion will often leave differences behind to show support.
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