51 pages • 1 hour read
Jodi PicoultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
According to Dawn, her mother “lived and died by superstitions” (9). Dawn’s mother “put safety pins in my clothing to ward off the evil eye, she taught us never to whistle indoors and if we left the house and had to come back in, we were to look in a mirror or our luck would turn” (49). Dawn mentions her mother’s superstitions often, usually with gentle humor, but without really believing in them. However, there are times in the story when Dawn is threatened by a loss of control and falls back on superstition. Picoult uses superstition to highlight how one reaches for control in situations, like plane crashes, where none is possible.
Dawn and her brother gently mock their mother’s superstitions, and yet, when Dawn is pregnant, she resorts to them: “I slipped a newly minted penny in each shoe. I slept with a knife under my mattress, to keep away evil spirits. I went into labor two weeks early, but all my superstitious behavior paid off” (138). Dawn believes that carrying superstitions helped Meret to have a successful birth. Earlier, when Dawn moved into Brian’s house, she “hid a baby shoe in the insulation, to ward off evil” even though she “thought it was ridiculous” (201).
By Jodi Picoult
A Spark of Light
A Spark of Light
Jodi Picoult
Between the Lines
Between the Lines
Jodi Picoult, Samantha van Leer
By Any Other Name
By Any Other Name
Jodi Picoult
Handle With Care
Handle With Care
Jodi Picoult
House Rules
House Rules
Jodi Picoult
Leaving Time
Leaving Time
Jodi Picoult
Mad Honey
Mad Honey
Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan
Mercy
Mercy
Jodi Picoult
My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes
Nineteen Minutes
Jodi Picoult
Plain Truth
Plain Truth
Jodi Picoult
Salem Falls
Salem Falls
Jodi Picoult
Small Great Things
Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult
The Pact
The Pact
Jodi Picoult
The Storyteller
The Storyteller
Jodi Picoult
The Tenth Circle
The Tenth Circle
Jodi Picoult
Vanishing Acts
Vanishing Acts
Jodi Picoult
Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here
Jodi Picoult