73 pages • 2 hours read
Gordon KormanSchooled
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007A 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.
Symbols & Motifs
Anonymity and Visibility
Anonymity and visibility reflect where kids stand on the school’s social hierarchy. Being visible or invisible to others can be a positive or negative experience depending on the situation. Thus, “being seen” symbolizes the precarious nature of popularity. At the beginning of the novel, Zach Powers craves visibility: “This was my time—eighth grade, captain of the football and soccer teams, Big Man on Campus” (13). When the response is positive, he wants to be noticed. However, when Zach Powers becomes the most hated man on campus, visibility is the last thing he wants. As he sits across the lunch table from Hugh, a kid that Zach once dedicated his time to tormenting, Zach wants to disappear.
Hugh, who has spent the last eight years being harassed by the likes of Zach, craves the anonymity that would offer him relief from the constant barrage of spitballs and wedgies. For Hugh, visibility is like wearing a permanent bull’s-eye. Capricorn’s presence offers Hugh something he has never had before: anonymity. To Hugh, this fact is his “birthday, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all wrapped into one” (70).
Only Capricorn seems unaffected by his high visibility. Unaware that all eyes are on him, he, unlike Hugh (and eventually Zach) avoids the pain of constantly receiving negative attention. This underscores the novel’s lesson that staying true to oneself is more valuable than craving the attention of others.
Garland Farm
Garland Farm has multiple symbolic meanings in the novel. For Rain, Garland Farm represents paradise, an ideal world in which she has total control over her actions and environment, has all her needs met, and does not have to deal with challenging or negative behavior. Rain insists that interaction with the outside world is a threat to the way of life on Garland Farm: She doesn’t interfere with others and expects, in turn, not to be interfered with. Rain’s isolationist lifestyle means that she’s able to retain her idealism; the tradeoff for this is that she views the outside world through a narrow lens and considers nearly every worldview other than her own as incorrect in some way.
To Capricorn, Garland Farm represents his childhood innocence. It is peaceful and safe, but it is also sheltered and deprives him of new experiences. Once thrust into the world of his middle school, he constantly has new experiences that, while challenging, help him grow. He tells a teacher about the details of a fight between two other students, shows students how to tie-dye clothing, and writes checks whenever the occasion calls for it. By being involved, as opposed to isolating himself on Garland Farm, Capricorn is able to change the attitude of those around him, and, in turn, the culture of his middle school.
Cars and Buses
Cars and buses are opposing symbols in the novel. Driving a car represents freedom and independence for both Capricorn and Sophie. During the course of the novel, Capricorn is arrested three times for driving without a license even though one of those times is in order to save the life of the bus driver, Mr. Rodrigo. This signals that, though Capricorn can safely drive on the farm, in the real world, he is not yet mature enough for the freedom and independence that driving a car represents.
Just as driving and cars represent independence and freedom, school buses represent confinement and a lack of control over one’s surroundings. One day, when Zach steals Capricorn’s shoes, Capricorn is forced to ride the bus home barefoot:
If I’d ever questioned why Rain and her friends gave up on city life in San Francisco and founded Garland back in 1967, five minutes on that bus explained it. The dark underbelly of the human animal was turned loose on that vehicle. It was crowded, noisy, dirty, rowdy, and uncomfortable. People fought, shrieked, threw things at one another, and tormented the hapless driver. It was an insane asylum on wheels (54).
While cars are symbols of everything good associated with civilization, like technological advancement, choice, and productivity, buses symbolize chaos, lack of cleanliness, and violence. There is an inherent privilege in this juxtaposition: Only those wealthy enough to afford a car can escape the unpleasantness of riding the bus. Capricorn loses some of his privilege when he enters middle school, but he gains self-awareness and adaptability, which he never would have been able to develop had he isolated himself on the farm.
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By Gordon Korman
