Summary
Theo is taken to a diner by two social workers, and over a plate of eggs they tell him that his mother has died. The social workers explain that they will be in contact with his father and his grandparents, and that they need to find him a home. Because Theo knows his grandparents are abusive and often cruel, so he dreads the idea of living with them, he suggests that the social workers call the Barbours instead of putting Theo in a group home.
The Barbours are friendly with Theo and his mother, but not particularly close given their cosmopolitan social status. But, Theo is friends with their son Andy, and still has the Barbour's phone number memorized. The social workers call the Barbours and drive Theo to their Park Avenue apartment.
Mr. Barbour answers the door and lets Theo and the social workers in. Mr. Barbour greets them in rumpled clothes, and seems pale and strange-looking, while Mrs. Barbour is extremely composed and cold. They welcome Theo and Mr. Barbour leads Theo to his son Platt's room, finding a pair of pajamas for him. Mr. Barbour offers Theo alcohol before changing his mind, and suggests Theo head to bed.
Theo settles into Platt's room, and notices how clean it's become since Platt was sent to boarding school. Platt is known for his aggressively bad behavior and constant bullying, so this change surprises Theo. Andy comes to Theo's new room and they try to discuss the bombing, but can only describe it as disturbing.
Theo feels helpless during his stay with the Barbours. People constantly offer him free things and he is taken care of, but he can hardly speak without crying. The Barbour's apartment is dark and creepy, but Theo finds solace in its gloominess and retreats into its darkness. Several people from his mother's life stop by to see Theo, but Mrs. Barbour breaks up the meetings if they go on for too long, something that Theo appreciates.
The Barbour's apartment is constantly filled with people, including housekeepers, tutors, businesspeople and friends. Mrs. Barbour is slightly distant, but Theo knows that she is exerting her influence and working behind the scenes to protect Theo from the press and from Social Services. Andy stays home with Theo during his first days at the Barbours, and they play chess together. They first developed a friendship after they skipped a grade together and both faced relentless bullying from the older kids they go to school with. Unlike his athletic and well-liked siblings, Andy is slightly awkward and appears "mildly stupid instead of excessively smart," something that doesn't change as he grows older (104). Though Theo loses interest in good grades and becomes an average student, Andy is at the top of his class, and is frequently targeted by bullies.
Theo constantly thinks of his mother after her death and fixates on his memories of her, withdrawing from his surroundings. After a few days, Andy returns to school and Theo is left alone to watch Turner Classic Movies, which is what his mother liked to watch after coming home from work. After a few days, Mrs. Barbour insists that Theo return to school, and the next day he goes to school with Andy, though he knows going to school will make his mother's death feel official.
At school, several kids come to Theo and apologize about his mother's death. Tom Cable avoids Theo until Theo approaches him, and though they have a good conversation at first, Tom again starts to ignore Theo. This angers Theo, since his suspension happened after Tom told their teacher about his smoking. Theo knows that if he hadn't been suspended, he would not have gone to the Met that day, and his mother might have lived. Theo tries to provoke Tom, but Tom continues to ignore him.
The other kids at school are either extremely nice to Theo or politely and uneasily interact with him. Adults at his school are overly cautious and attentive with him, and several teachers have one-on-one conversations with him where they discuss the deaths of their own family members, and the grief, guilt, and suicidality they experienced after these deaths. Theo's teachers think he is coping well with his mother's death because of his numbness, but he is occasionally overwhelmed with grief.
Theo's grandparents offer to rent a room for him at a Holiday Inn, saying they cannot take him in due to a vague illness his grandmother has. The other adults in his life don't support this, so he stays with the Barbours. Mrs. Barbour notices Theo’s ring and comments on it, pointing out that the inscription says “Blackwell,” and this name sounds vaguely familiar to Theo. Though Mrs. Barbour tells him not to carry the ring around, he ignores her and keeps it in his pocket. Andy wants Theo to stay at the Barbours', but Mr. Barbour says they cannot keep him at their house if his grandparents want to take him in. Theo tries to be as helpful as possible around the house so that he can avoid living with his grandparents, but doesn't know how he can help.
Mr. Barbour continues to pressure Andy to sail with him. Andy despises sailing, and they get into an argument which ends in Mr. Barbour delivering a speech about the historical significance of sailing.
Theo is given a final opportunity to look through the things in his apartment before they are put into storage, and he remembers the painting. Federal agents start looking for him, and question him about the explosion, but Theo is unable to answer most of their questions. Theo decides to bring the ring to Hobart & Blackwell, and makes a trip to the shop, where Hobie, a man who works there, opens the door and lets him in.
Analysis
Theo directly confronts the impersonal treatment of others after his mother's death. When the social workers tell him that he needs to find a foster family, they pronounce his name incorrectly, and don't understand how cruel Theo's grandparents are. They grant Theo's request to live with the Barbours, and the Barbours treat him kindly, but they are unsure how to act around Theo. There is already a fundamental disconnect between Theo and the adults who try to help him, and he is mostly given sympathy but not empathy, as the people around him don't know how to soothe his pain as he silently suffers.
Theo struggles to reintegrate into his school and into society after his mother's death. Tom Cable, his former friend who informed on him and led to his suspension, completely ignores him and denies his partial responsibility. Tom refuses to feel guilt or culpability for his actions, and Theo is forced to carry the full weight of his mother's death. Meanwhile, several of his other classmates try to be overly polite to him or act strangely, and they also fail to understand or empathize with the horrific events that he witnessed after the bombing.
Indeed, Theo is largely ignored and neglected by most people around him. His appointed psychologists think that he is coping well, but this is only because he is numb, and his teachers take his mother's death as an opportunity to share their own trauma, instead of trying to understand Theo. Mostly, Theo continues to be neglected by the people who are supposed to help him, and he realizes that he will mostly have to cope with his loss alone.
Despite Theo's disconnect from reality, he still remembers the ring and the painting, two objects that continue to tie him to the bombing and to his mother and the charming girl he spotted at the museum. He does not know what to do with the painting, and he worries about being caught and prosecuted for his impulsive theft. The painting also symbolizes his connection with his mother and the trauma that he carries, but it also creates a constant fear and anxiety related to the bombing. Theo continues to carry a physical embodiment of the bombing, and knows that the memory of the bombing, and of the painting, will always exist, even after his death.
The ring is a much simpler object to address, and he knows that he must return it and confront the last wishes of the man who asked him to steal the painting. When Theo travels to meet Hobie and return the ring, he gets lost several times and has to wander around in the confusing landscape of the Village. After several hours of waiting, he finally sees something in the shop that "moves[s] lightly, as ghosts are said to move," and this ghostly presence symbolizes his attempt to return the ring and honor the ghost of the man who gave him the ring (147). The green bell of the shop symbolizes hope and the man's ghostly presence, as he carries out the last wishes of the man he met after the bombing.
