Previous
Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Orbiting Jupiter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Parenthood
Adolescence and Responsibility
Prejudice
Trauma and Trust
Friendship and Love
Summary
Analysis
Some teachers like Joseph. The PE teacher, Coach Swieteck, a veteran missing both legs, quickly realizes that Joseph is a talented gymnast. Mr. D’Ulney, the math teacher, gives Joseph extra problems during Joseph and Jack’s fifth-period “Office Duty.” After Mr. Canton sees Mr. D’Ulney giving Joseph a theorem, he starts giving Joseph and Jack more office work—and Joseph starts eating lunch in Mr. D’Ulney’s room.
Coach Swieteck and Mr. D’Ulney show that not all adults are prejudiced against Joseph due to Joseph’s troubled background: some see him as a talented kid in need of extra support and act accordingly. When Mr. Canton interferes with Mr. D’Ulney’s attempts to mentor Joseph, it shows the pettiness of Mr. Canton’s prejudice against Joseph.
Themes
One afternoon, while Joseph is at counseling, a man with Joseph’s “black eyes”—Joseph’s father, Mr. Brook—appears in the Hurd barn and asks Jack where Joseph is. The cows moo unhappily, unlike when Joseph arrived. Mr. Brook asks whether “Joe” is there. When Jack says no, Mr. Brook asks what Jack is “here for.” Mr. Hurd checks that the man is Joseph’s father and tells him that he shouldn’t have come. Mr. Brook asks whether Joseph does farm chores, too—whether the Hurds foster children to make them do farm chores. Mr. Hurd calmly insists that Mr. Brook leave. Mr. Brook curses but goes.
Thus far, the events of the novel have confirmed the cows’ unprejudiced, positive initial judgment of Joseph. As such, their immediate negative judgment of Mr. Brook hints that Mr. Brook is a bad father. When Mr. Brook asks what Jack is “here for,” it reveals that he thinks Jack is also a foster child: he assumes that the Hurds only foster children so they have access to free labor. Due to Mr. Brook’s cynicism, he fails to guess that Mr. Hurd makes his biological son do chores for his son’s benefit—to teach his son greater responsibility.
Themes
Around Thanksgiving, the weather gets even colder. The Monday after Thanksgiving, while walking home from school, Joseph abruptly turns off the road and heads for the Alliance River. Jack—who knows that the river ice stays thin until deep winter—asks what Joseph is doing. Joseph replies, “Figure it out, Jackie.” While Jack follows him along the riverbank and tries to warn him, Joseph slides out onto the ice. Panicked, Jack yells the name that he’s heard Joseph cry in his sleep: “Maddie!” Joseph tells Jack to shut up. He starts jumping on the ice. Then, suddenly exhausted, he starts toward the riverbank.
Jack’s attempts to protect Joseph from thin ice show both Jack’s goodness and his desire to be a good friend to Joseph. When Joseph replies sarcastically (“Figure it out, Jackie”) to Jack’s question, it indicates that Joseph doesn’t yet fully reciprocate Jack’s friendship. Finally, when Joseph jumps on the thin ice, it suggests that his traumatic past sometimes leads him to act self-destructively and court danger.
Themes
Jack remembers how, at age six, he was walking home with Mrs. Hurd when he saw a yellow dog half-fallen through thin ice on the river, scrabbling silently to climb out of the water. Jack wanted to help, but his mother held him back. Eventually, the dog fell under the ice. Though Jack had seen animals die on the farm before, he had nightmares for months about the dog’s drowning—often nightmares in which he was the dog.
At six, Jack was clearly not big or old enough to take responsibility for saving the yellow dog from drowning. The placement of the flashback to the dog—while Joseph is still on the ice—suggests that Joseph is in danger just as the dog was and implicitly poses a question: is 12-year-old Jack big or old enough to save his foster brother?
Themes
Get the entire Orbiting Jupiter LitChart as a printable PDF.
When Joseph falls through the ice on his way to the bank, it’s like Jack’s nightmares. Joseph catches himself on the remaining ice. Up to his shoulders in water, he scrabbles at the ice. Jack dumps out the contents of his backpack, edges toward Joseph onto the ice, and—holding one backpack strap—throws the backpack at Joseph. Joseph catches the end of the backpack. As Jack pulls, his feet go through the ice, but he doesn’t let go. Joseph pulls himself out of the water and wriggles up onto the bank. Then he heaves Jack out of the water, and both boys fall into the snow.
Jack takes responsibility for saving Joseph—and he does manage to save him. Jack’s success shows that he is more autonomous and responsible at age 12 than he was at age 6 when his mother prevented him from saving the yellow dog. Jack’s bravery—he puts himself in danger to save Joseph—also shows his goodness and how deeply he cares about his foster brother.
Themes
Jack yells at Joseph that he’s crazy and tells him that people can freeze to death after getting out of the water. Joseph suggests that they should head back to the Hurds’ in that case. When Jack starts to ask why Joseph did it, Joseph cuts him off and walks away. Mr. Canton drives up, orders the boys inside his car, and turns up the heat. He tells them that a passerby called the school “about two crazy kids on the ice”—and that he knew which two kids it would be. He says that he’ll be talking to both of them about their behavior during their Office Duty the next day.
Mr. Canton is both a responsible adult and a prejudiced person. On the one hand, when he hears about “two crazy kids on the ice,” he takes action to help and protect them. On the other hand, he claims he knew which “two crazy kids” were getting in trouble as soon as he got the call—a prejudiced statement even if he happened to be correct in this instance.
Themes
When Jack and Joseph get home, Mrs. Hurd orders them to strip in front of the wood stove. Then she wraps them in blankets and gives them hot chocolate. When Mr. Hurd gets home, he scolds Jack, reminding him that he’s not supposed to go out on the ice until Mr. Hurd tells him it is safe to do so. When Joseph interjects that Jack came out onto the ice because of him, Mr. Hurd says that he’ll be talking to Joseph about that later. When he does talk to Joseph, he sends Jack into the kitchen to do homework. Afterward, Joseph comes in and apologizes to Jack.
Mrs. Hurd and Mr. Hurd demonstrate good parenting in this scene: Mrs. Hurd takes immediate responsibility for the boys’ physical safety, making sure they warm up, while Mr. Hurd disciplines the boys, reminding them of what good behavior is. When Joseph tries to save Jack from punishment and take all the blame himself, it shows Joseph’s honesty, his appreciation for Jack’s help, and the boys’ growing friendship.
Themes
At bedtime, after Jack gets into the lower bunk of his and Joseph’s bunkbed, Joseph comes over. Jack sees a scar all down Joseph’s side. Joseph tells Jack not to worry about Mr. Canton because Mr. Hurd will call him—and to never say “Maddie” again. He also says that he’s the only one who called Madeleine “Maddie.” Jack agrees not to call her that. Joseph walks to the window and looks at the sky. Then he climbs into the top bunk. After a pause, Jack asks Joseph why he went onto the ice. Joseph says that Maddie liked to skate.
By implication, “Maddie”—the name Jack has heard calling out in his sleep—is the mother of Joseph’s baby daughter Jupiter. That Joseph self-destructively risked his life on thin ice because Madeleine liked to skate both illustrates his love for her and implies that he has some unresolved trauma related to her.
Themes
