I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980
38 pages • 1-hour read
Lauren TarshisI Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980
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Symbols & Motifs
The Secret Handshake
In the book, Jess’s secret handshake with Sam and Eddie Rowan becomes a motif for The Power of Friendship. Jess shows her close bond with the Rowan twins by performing the secret handshake whenever there is a need for them all to support or motivate each other. For instance, when the three plan to explore Skeleton Woman’s shack for the first time, they perform their handshake to express solidarity and renew their courage. The narrative states, “Eddie held out his hand, palm up. Jess and Sam laid theirs on top of his. It was a three-way secret handshake they’d made up back in kindergarten. ‘All for one,’ Sam said. ‘And one for all,’ Jess and Eddie chorused” (14). By using this famous phrase from Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, the three friends affirm that they are a team and will always stick together, just like the characters in the famous story. As Tarshis explains, “The book was about three best friends who’d do anything for each other” (14).
The secret handshake also appears when the children show each other emotional support. For example, when Jess feels guilty over losing her dad’s camera, Eddie and Sam do the handshake to encourage her and cheer her up. The author writes, “They leaned together so that their foreheads were touching. ‘All for one,’ Eddie and Sam chorused. Jess took a breath. ‘And one for all,’ she answered. And when she felt ready, they walked together back to the blacktop” (56). Later, when the boys are injured and Jess is trying to comfort them, she does the handshake on her own to rally her own strength and resolve. Even though the two boys have succumbed to the shock of their injuries, Jess tries to include them in the handshake and expresses her commitment to them, saying their motto to herself before she ventures out into the ravaged wilderness, knowing that she “would do anything to help the boys” (77). In this way, the secret handshake demonstrates the power of friendship to motivate, encourage, and heal.
Mount St. Helens
In the novel, the real-life volcano of Mount St. Helens becomes a motif for The Unpredictability of Nature. The author’s repeated descriptions of the mountain as a beautiful, idyllic place stand in sharp contrast to the violent descriptions of the volcanic eruption at the end of the story. For instance, she initially emphasizes its lush forests and the beauty of its snowy summit, writing, “St. Helens rose up over them, its perfect triangle peak sparkling with snow” (1) and its “lower slopes […] blanketed with green trees” (12). Later, however, the mountain is nearly unrecognizable, as its volcanic center spews out hot air, toxic gases, and deadly ash, wiping out nearby forests and staining the sky black. In the aftermath of the explosion, the mountain “looked as though it had been smashed by a giant hammer. Its sparkling peak was gone. In its place was a gaping black mouth vomiting up smoke” (76). With these visceral descriptions, the author emphasizes the dramatic changes in this once-peaceful landscape.
Dad’s Camera
The protagonist of the novel, Jess Marlowe, is still grieving the death of her dad, which happened two years before the beginning of the book. Her dad’s camera therefore becomes a symbol for her fond memories of her father and for the loss of the man himself. By treasuring her dad’s camera and seeking to use it, Jess tries to cope with her father’s death by connecting to the passions he had when he was alive. Her dad loved his expensive camera, which he hoped to use to pursue his dream of becoming a photographer. However, when Jess loses him to a car accident, this dream is cut short.
When Jess drops the camera in the hunting shack and leaves it there during the first earthquake, the pain of her father’s death comes to the forefront of her mind as she feels the depths of her grief all over again. Her thoughts scrabble frantically for purchase in her mind as she thinks, “How could she have been so stupid? Why had she brought Dad’s camera into the forest? What would mom say when she realized it was missing?” (54). Jess’s guilt at losing the camera motivates her to return to the shack— even though Mount St. Helens has become a much more dangerous place. Jess’s relief at finding her father’s camera safe shows her attachment to this special item, but the chaos of the volcanic eruption soon destroys the camera, and the loss of this sentimental item remains a painful topic for Jess because she associates it so closely with her late father. As such, the camera represents the difficult losses that Jess has endured.
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