52 pages • 1-hour read
The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen
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Symbols & Motifs
Imported Kosher Starburst
Kosher Starburst candies imported from the United Kingdom appear throughout The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, first as a symbol of the Orthodox Jewish community’s difference, and then as a symbol of Anna-Marie’s attempts to be close to Hoodie. Because Hoodie and his family and friends keep kosher, they cannot eat many foods available in traditional supermarkets, especially packaged food like candy. Hoodie explains that “American Starburst aren’t kosher, but British ones are, and [the Abramowitz Kosher Market] import[s] them from England” (19). Because so few candy options are available in Tregaron, these imported Starburst become “the official soft taffy candy of the Moskovitz Torah Academy” (69). The boys’ obsession with British Starburst reflects the relative lack of choices in Tregaron: Unlike their non-Jewish counterparts, they are limited to a small selection of Kosher candies. The kosher Starburst act as a symbol of their difference from their neighbors.
When Hoodie meets Anna-Marie, Starburst become a symbol of their connection. After Hoodie explains the importance of imported Starbursts, Anna-Marie intentionally buys some for him “from the Abramowitz market” (110). The fact that Anna-Marie visits the Abramowitz market suggests that she is interested in learning more about him and his religion. Although she still holds some prejudices, she admits that “British Starburst are better” than their American counterparts (110). Crucially, Anna-Marie returns to the Abramowitz market after her big fight with Hoodie, suggesting that she associates him with the candy. Hoodie also associates her with the Starburst. He visits the Abramowitz market on the day of the shooting “thinking [he will] grab some Starburst, but for once [he isn’t] in the mood—they reminded [him] too much of Anna-Marie” (171). The imported kosher Starburst signal their growing connection throughout the novel.
Cell Phones
Throughout The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, Blum positions Hoodie’s cell phones as emblematic of the restrictions Hoodie faces as a member of the Orthodox Jewish community. At the start of the novel, Hoodie uses a simple flip phone that is so basic it “[doesn’t] get emojis,” making it difficult for him to decipher Anna-Marie’s text (38). Hoodie understands why his family restricts him to a flip phone: “[T]o protect [him] from getting distracted from Torah, to keep [him] from spending [his] time watching videos or viewing memes or looking up pictures of girls dressed” like Anna-Marie (45). Although a few of his friends have smartphones, their parents have installed “filters on them that basically [make] them flip phones without the hinge” (213). These passages highlight the Orthodox Jewish community’s view of technology as a potential danger. Restricting Hoodie’s cell phone use to a more utilitarian model like a flip phone, Hoodie’s parents believe, will keep him from accessing material the community views as inappropriate.
At the end of the novel, Hoodie’s recently married sister Zippy gives him an “unfiltered” and “untraceable” phone which she and her new husband buy for him. She refers to the phone as “the pure stuff,” language that alludes to the access and independence the phone provides as a kind of drug (213). Zippy explicitly connects the unfiltered smartphone with freedom of choice, telling Hoodie that he “can watch porn with Siri, or you can stream Talmud lessons on YouTube. That’s your choice” (213). Although Hoodie uses the phone primarily to contact Anna-Marie, the end of the novel implies that he intends to use the phone to connect with the larger world beyond his Orthodox community.
Tu B’Av
The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen begins on Tu B’Av, a minor Jewish holiday sometimes compared to Valentine’s Day. The holiday acts as a symbol of the cross-cultural exchange Hoodie and Anna-Marie experience throughout the novel. As the novel begins, Hoodie struggles to remember the origins of the holiday. The sight of Anna-Marie dressed all in white and dancing outside the yeshiva window triggers his memory: “[D]uring the grape harvest, all the unmarried girls of Jerusalem went out into the vineyards […] and they danced, wearing only plain white robes” (2). The girls wore white so that “the boys didn’t know if the girls were rich or poor, or even which tribe they were from” and could “choose a wife without thinking about if she […] was from undesirable rival tribe” (2). This tradition positions exchange between cultures—even rival cultures—as a holy thing. Although Hoodie has been taught that he shouldn’t interact with non-Jewish girls like Anna-Marie, he interprets the fact that “she was dressed in white” on Tu B’Av as a sign that “this was what God wanted from [him]” (6). The fact that the novel begins with Hoodie and Anna-Marie meeting on Tu B’Av foreshadows the novel’s interest in intercultural exchange.
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