Two Degrees

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-17

Part 2, Chapters 18-40

Part 3, Chapters 41-55

Part 4, Chapters 56-72

Part 5, Chapters 73-77

Part 6, Chapters 78-103

Part 7, Chapters 104-108

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Weather-Based Puns

Akira Kristiansen, Sue Tookome, Owen Mackenzie, and George Gruyere develop specific puns related to the elements they encounter during their survival efforts. After Owen’s mom warns her careless son to not fall in an ice hole, calling each other “ice hole” becomes a constant theme between the two. They tease each other with the phrase, especially after Owen literally falls into a hole while walking through the burned forest. Similarly, after encountering a bout of hail caused by the lightning storm, Akira and Sue make various puns using the word “hail” in place of “hell.” This joking helps develop their bond, making Akira realize that it is good to have a fellow teenager along to help distract her from their desperate situation.

These puns have a practical purpose, as well. Given the young target audience of Two Degrees, they allow Gratz to have the characters “swear” without using any actual curse words. This both allows the book to avoid controversy, and helps establish the characters as very young teenagers, just testing out “bad” words in a harmless, fun way. Importantly, both puns relate to things found in the environment, but not to the most pressing disasters. Owen escapes from the snow hole unharmed, and the hailstorm is a welcome relief at a moment that Akira thought they were about to be hit with a rockslide.

Natural Forces

The Morris Fire, Hurricane Reuben, and Nanuq/the polar bear all take on distinctively human characteristics, which become more obvious as the characters progress through their stories. When the mother bear first threatens Owen, he sees her as his own mother when she is upset with him. Later, in the cabin, he sees a human look in Nanuq’s eyes, and the boys envision him destroying the cabin as a person cooking dinner. This motif is addressed directly through the Inuit legend that suggests bears become humans when they enter human dwellings.

Both Reuben and Morris become characters in Natalie and Akira’s minds, with their own thoughts, emotions, and motivations. Like many real-world hurricanes and wildfires, they are given human names, which helps personify them. Natalie feels that Reuben is angry with her specifically, and, in a reversal of this motif, momentarily believes that she has stopped the storm by “barking” at it, just like Churro tries to deter every perceived threat with frantic yips. Morris is described in both human and animal terms. For example, when the wild animals run from the forest, the fire is a “predator” nipping at their heels. Morris becomes fully sentient in Akira’s mind by the end of the book, when she imagines “him” trying to tell humans that he is unnatural, and that something has to be done to prevent beings like him from emerging in the future.

Animals

Animals are both a symbol and a motif throughout the book. Dodger and the wild animals escaping from the fire symbolize the natural animal instinct that something is wrong with the environment, a tendency that many humans in the book do not share. They show that humans should look to other creatures for guidance during natural disasters, as they will always act in ways that directly assist their chances of survival. Tiny, helpless Churro, meanwhile, symbolizes animals’ dependency on humans for safety in a changing world. He believes himself to be ferocious but relies on Natalie throughout the book. It is suggested that the other animals in the hurricane may eventually rely on humans, as well. The manatee, alligator, and python are all attempting to survive, but appear confused by their displacement into the human city, far from their natural ecosystems. Nanuq functions in both ways; at first, he is shown to be a stealthy predator who is willing to spend an entire day following his human prey and is able to conceal himself even in the open tundra. Later, he becomes reliant on Owen and George to save him from drowning after he is tranquilized.

Butterflies are also used as a symbol, especially in Natalie’s story. The blue butterflies for which Mariposa is named are a symbol of innocence and a healthy environment, and Natalie often thinks about them in her lowest moments. The butterfly symbol is also reflected in Akira’s use of the word “monarchs” to describe her favorite sequoias. This word is typically used to describe the largest, oldest trees in a grove, but within the book it reflects the monarch butterfly, an at-risk species, and shows that even the giant sequoias are not impervious to the effects of human-caused climate change. The butterfly symbol appears again in Part 7 as the logo for Natalie’s environmental rally. This shows that while she may have outgrown Mariposa, the mythical land will always be her idealized vision of the world, and the egalitarian dream that she will work for as an activist.