62 pages • 2-hour read
Moo: A Novel
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Work Clothes
The work clothes that Mrs. Falala gives Reena and Luke function as a symbol of the change in their identities. One of the first things that Reena notices about Beat when she first meets her at Birchmere Farm is her clothing: “tall black rubber boots” and “canvas overalls” (48). These clothes are foreign to Reena, but she has already noticed that the other teenagers at Birchmere wear similar outfits. These other teens impress Reena with their unfamiliar skills. They “fill feed bins and water buckets and climb fences and tromp through sawdust and lean against cows”—the very same cows that seem so enormous and intimidating to Reena (31). To Luke, these teenagers seem almost superhuman. He begins to draw heroes that look like “farmers brandishing halters and conquering giant cow-like creatures” (31). When Mrs. Falala later presents Luke and Reena with their very own work clothes in “The Outfits,” Reena uses the same language to describe them that she used to describe the clothing worn by the local teenagers at Birchmere: Mrs. Falala gives them “tall black rubber boots” and “canvas overalls” (121). This repeated diction stresses that the work clothes are important for more than their ability to protect the children while they are helping Mrs. Falala with Zora and the other animals at Mrs. Falala’s house—they are important because they are the same clothes that locals wear. They are a sign of fitting in. They are a sign of Mrs. Falala’s acceptance of Reena and Luke and her belief that they are capable of doing the kind of hard work required in their new rural lives. The symbol of the work clothes thus supports the novel’s theme of Growing Into a New Life, and Reena’s and Luke’s excitement over receiving the clothes demonstrates both The Importance of Respect and The Rewards of Rural Life.
The Attic Room
The symbol of the attic room serves as an important characterization device for Mrs. Falala. When Reena and Luke first arrive at Mrs. Falala’s house, they hear “light/ and/ gentle” flute music floating from the attic window (33). Although it can be inferred that Mrs. Falala must be the flute player, because she lives alone in the house, the source of the music remains a mystery to Reena for most of the novel. Reena simply cannot imagine that someone as outwardly rude and sarcastic as Mrs. Falala could be hiding a lighter, gentler self inside. There are other clues to Mrs. Falala’s inner nature, however. Her voice is “full of honey,” for instance, a metaphor that hints at her hidden sweetness. Mrs. Falala uses her biting humor and gruffness as a kind of protective armor to shield her vulnerable side from others. For instance, when Reena realizes that the photos in the barn of a girl winning Grand Champion ribbons year after year are actually photos of Mrs. Falala, the elderly woman refuses to talk about it. Instead, she announces that she has to go lie down and abruptly leaves the conversation.
Reena finally realizes how much Mrs. Falala has kept hidden inside herself near the novel’s end. When Reena and Luke talk about Mrs. Falala during the long wait for news from their parents about what Mr. Colley called them to Mrs. Falala’s house for, Luke shows Reena Mrs. Falala’s drawings and tells her about the attic room. Reena learns that it is Mrs. Falala playing the flute in this room, and more: Luke tells her that Mrs. Falala calls the attic room her “remembering room” where she goes to sit by herself and remember the past (247). Mrs. Falala’s drawings reveal the kinds of things that “fill up” the room when she is in there, remembering: “flowers and ribbons/ and stars and leaves/ and musical notes” (245) as well as “lightning bolts/ and spiders and bats” (247). Reena is astonished at this glimpse into Mrs. Falala’s inner life: “Mrs. Falala,” she muses, “So much/ we did not know/ about her” (248).
Mrs. Falala dies in this attic room, and after the children find her body, they see many more of her drawings line the walls. The drawings are another glimpse into Mrs. Falala’s inner world and the emotions she tried so hard to keep hidden: In addition to many portraits of her animals, there are portraits of the two children she had come to love. The attic room thus symbolizes Mrs. Falala’s inner life and the parts of herself she did not want exposed to the rest of the world.
Drawing
Drawing is a motif that helps to characterize both Luke and Mrs. Falala. When Reena introduces her brother, she explains that he always has his notebook with him; he draws for hours at a time: “contorted heroes leaping and jumping and vaporizing; bizarre enemies […] and complicated towns with alleys and bridges and dungeons” (7). Luke uses drawing to process his emotions and experiences, so the complex fantasy towns he draws are unsurprising, given his urban environment. As Luke begins the process of Growing Into a New Life, his drawings evolve along with him. After he sees Birchmere Farm, he expresses his admiration for the teenagers there and his fear of the huge cows in drawings that cast the teenage farmers as heroes vanquishing enormous cow-monsters. After an early frightening encounter with Mrs. Falala and her menagerie, Luke draws her as a snake-headed monster with “sharp metal claws/ surrounded by a posse/ of enormous hogs and menacing cats” (46). As his fear of Mrs. Falala subsides, however, Reena does not see these frightening drawings anymore. Luke’s artistic ability becomes a way for him to get to know Mrs. Falala and shift the power dynamic between them as Mrs. Falala becomes his student.
Drawing is also an element of Mrs. Falala’s characterization. Despite her advanced age, Mrs. Falala decides to take up drawing. She, too, is Growing Into a New Life. After so many years of keeping her tenderer emotions under wraps, Mrs. Falala seeks an outlet for them. None of the drawing books Reena and Luke’s mother sends over to Mrs. Falala satisfy her, however: It is only when she realizes that seven-year-old Luke can draw that she finds a way to learn, which shows The Value of Companionship. That she is willing to place herself under the tutelage of a young child because she recognizes his talent also demonstrates The Importance of Respect. Mrs. Falala practices hard to learn her new skill, conveying what a determined person she can be. The subjects of her art are also revealing. Mrs. Falala draws her animals, her barn, and her attic window repeatedly. These are the things that matter to her: her companions, her home, and her inner self. After her death, the children finally enter the attic room and find that she has drawn one other thing: portraits of Reena and Luke. Although Mrs. Falala is not a person who finds it easy to share her emotional life with others, her drawings, like Luke’s, speak for her. She even uses her drawings to find a way to say goodbye to the children she has come to love: Her final picture is of Reena and Luke pedaling away on their bikes, leading Mrs. Falala’s menagerie away to a new life. In the corner of the drawing, Mrs. Falala watches, lifting a hand to wave goodbye.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events