Lost and Found

In the opening chapters of Lost and Found, Schraff relies on two primary settings: the family apartment and the school. These settings contrast the emotional and social challenges Darcy and Jamee face at home and in their social life. The apartment where they live with their tired mother and ill grandmother is a place filled with emotional tension. School, rather than providing relief from the tense environment at home, is an equally tense place where teens fight for social acceptance and identity. Darcy also visits a tidal pool, which initially acts as a peaceful respite from the tension in her life. At first, Darcy is captivated by the natural beauty: “She snapped some pictures of the tidal pool and began to write observations in her notebook. She already saw starfish and more sea urchins along with a lot of kelp and algae. Some of the rubbery kelp was lying on the rocks in small patches of sand” (40). This peaceful moment is disrupted when Cooper puts something down Darcy’s shirt, turning a serene experience into an uncomfortable and humiliating incident and disrupting the calm escape of the tidal pool. By juxtaposing these settings, Schraff illustrates how every aspect of Darcy’s life is imbued with a different but consistent tension.

In these early chapters, Schraff establishes the complex relationship between the two sisters, Darcy and Jamee, who live with their grandmother and mother in a state of constant financial hardship. Darcy, the older sister, tries to stay positive and grounded, living by the values her grandmother instilled in her, such as focusing on “small spots of beauty along the way” despite the instability in her life (4). In contrast, Jamee is more rebellious and cynical, shaped in part by the disappearance of their father; as Darcy points out, “It was about then that Jamee slowly began to change, to have angry, sad moods, to be cynical” (18). Jamee’s choice to blast rap music, which Darcy “winces” at, further illustrates the vast gap between them while also establishing their different personalities. Darcy still talks to their grandmother, hoping for a connection, while Jamee avoids her entirely. Despite their arguing, the sisters share unspoken pain, but Darcy, as the older sister, doesn’t feel like she can openly express hers at home. However, these chapters offer Darcy another outlet through her new friendship with Tarah. Feeling isolated and desperate for a listening ear, she surprises herself and Tarah by opening up, illustrating her newfound belief that friendship and love are worth the risk of heartbreak. This vulnerability adds depth to Darcy’s character, showing her need for connection and the tension between her values and her emotional reality. Her changing perception of Tarah and the development of their relationship indicate the beginning of her personal journey toward maturity, which involves Questioning Preconceptions and Embracing Possibilities.

The central tension in these chapters stems from both the sisters’ internal and external conflicts. Their strained relationship, financial insecurity at home, and growing peer conflicts at school all contribute to stress. Darcy’s concern over Jamee’s new group of rowdy friends, including Bobby, who is later revealed to be manipulating her, is worsened when she overhears him bragging about how easy it is to get Jamee to steal for him. When Darcy confronts her, Jamee explodes and blasts her rap music, symbolizing the emotional wall she’s built between herself and those who care about her. Meanwhile, Darcy feels increasingly isolated at school. She looks forward to her science project, only to be paired with someone she sees as “low class,” and she is further alienated when Tarah and Cooper mock her. Their interactions are among the first in the novel that force Darcy to confront the limitations of her own perspective. At first, it seems like they are the problem, but soon, Darcy realizes that it was her own attitude that led to those behaviors. Even her friendship with Brisana is challenged, as Brisana enjoys putting others down, and Darcy no longer wants to be that way. Each of these interactions illustrates both Darcy’s status quo at the beginning of the novel and that she is already beginning to change.

Schraff uses a variety of literary techniques in these chapters to create emotional connections and build suspense. One stylistic choice is the inclusion of rap lyrics in poem form to express Jamee’s inner world in a way that feels true to her character. She also builds tension through structure, ending Chapter 3 with a cliffhanger as Darcy waits alone at a bus stop, sensing danger from a suspicious man nearby. With these choices, she establishes both sisters’ characters and highlights their specific challenges.

The opening chapters explore the theme of How Family Shapes Growth in Adolescence through Darcy and Jamee’s home life. The absence of their father hangs heavy in their lives, particularly for Jamee, whose world devolved into anger and sadness after he left. Darcy’s reflection that “it was about then that Jamee slowly began to change, to have angry, sad moods, to be cynical” showcases how unresolved family trauma can alter a person’s course in life (18). Both sisters also worry about their grandmother, whose declining memory adds to their emotional burden. Darcy’s nighttime reflections on the last time she saw her father further emphasize how past experiences shape present fears, making the family’s emotional history a powerful influence in the story.

Several symbols and motifs begin to emerge early in the story, deepening the emotional layers of the narrative. One recurring motif is memory, particularly the memory of the last day the sisters saw their father, and the grandmother’s own recollections of her children and flowers in the garden. Another symbol that appears early on is the “Tale of the Moon Monster” (32), a story their mother used to tell during family hikes under the stars. This tale functions as a metaphor for the loneliness that often comes with adolescence and all the complex experiences within it. The sisters’ shared yet separate memories of moonlit hikes, abandonment, and their grandmother’s stories demonstrate how memory can be subjective and the same event can shape people in different ways.