Theme of Smiles To Go- Timed Writing, Revised Version

I read Smiles To Go by Jerry Spinelli. The theme in this book is not everything can be planned out in life, and sometimes it’ll throw something at you that you’d never expect. This is because the main character, Will Tuppence, has his whole life planned out. He loves to be in charge and in control of what’s going on around him. Things have a routine for him, and that’s how they should be. Suddenly, a new scientific discovery shatters that mindset and leaves him feeling lost. The discovery? Protons, the immensely tiny particles that make up our entire universe, can die. What does that mean? Everything has an end. Everything that is something will eventually cease to exist and become nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. (Note: Science has not yet confirmed that proton decay is real or possible.) This supports the theme because from Will’s perspective, his future seems unsure and unstable now that he knows nothing will last forever. Farther into the book, Will’s plan is upset when he is unable to complete a chess tournament. He is so close to winning a match when all of a sudden his parents come with grave news- there has been an accident. Will’s little sister Tabby, frustrated and seeking attention, decides to try to skateboard down Dead Man’s Hill- the most treacherous hill in the area, just like Will’s friend B.T., the only person to ever skateboard down that hill and survive. She is severely injured and ends up in the hospital on life support. Will is struck with how small and innocent and weak she seems- no, this can’t be the little girl who climbs on the counter, steals atomic watches, and drops black jelly beans (his favorite) into the trash one by one just to make him mad. This is not the plan. This is not the routine. Will’s mother gives him a strange task: Go home and look carefully at Ozzie, Tabby’s stuffed octopus. Will obeys. He does as he is instructed and finds that Ozzie’s stuffing has been replaced with a jar of black jelly beans. His mother later explains that Tabby has picked every single jelly bean out of the trash when Will was not looking, dusted them off, and collected them in the jar. It is a birthday present, albeit a strange one, and it shows that Tabby loves Will as her big brother- she just shows it differently. This supports the theme because Will has always thought of Tabby as the obnoxious younger sibling that’s out to drive him insane- always there, making mischief. When she is hospitalized, she is no longer there to bother him. His life is altered, and he realizes just how important Tabby actually is to him. Sure, she drives him crazy, but deep down, he loves her. At the end of the book, Will decides to lighten up a bit and not fuss over his life quite so much. He learns to accept that life is full of unexpected events, and it doesn't always go the way you want it to. Thank you for reading!