45 pages • 1-hour read
Trampoline
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Symbols & Motifs
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Substance use and abuse is rampant in Dawn’s life. Early in the novel, Dawn references her mother’s alcoholism. Whenever she enters a new room, it is often littered with beer cans, and someone is drinking or drunk or has fallen into a drugged-out stupor. Her Papaw makes his own corn liquor, to which she has easy access, and she later assists in Hubert’s illegal alcohol operation. Substance abuse pervades the atmosphere like a thick fog that keeps many people in her community stuck. At 15 years old, Dawn is desensitized to the drug use she witnesses, and even seems to expect it for herself. In this sense, it represents the cyclical nature of her family members’ habits: like her mother, Dawn turns to alcohol to drown out her pain, despite resenting her mother for her addiction and the consequences it has on the family.
Looking back, Dawn realizes that many of the people she knows are abusing the drug Oxycodone. Drugs like Oxycodone have ravaged the region where Dawn grows up, wherein many towns face similar economic struggles to Canard County. Substance abuse signifies their feelings of defeat in the face of obstacles they feel are beyond their control, like losing a spouse, in Momma’s case, or facing the threat of lost employment, like the coal company employees.
Driving
Dawn is learning to drive, so Mamaw often lets her practice driving her Ford Escort. Often, Mamaw’s approval of Dawn’s behavior is reflected in whether she permits Dawn to drive. For instance, after Dawn speaks out at the hearing for the first time, she asks Dawn if she wants to drive home. Likewise, when Dawn steals another car or drinks too much, Mamaw refuses to let Dawn drive when she asks. Being able to drive is a sign of maturity, and by permitting Dawn to drive the car Mamaw signals her judgment that Dawn is acting mature or immature. Further, Dawn and Mamaw have many of their serious discussions in the car, especially when Dawn is behind the wheel, like after Dawn speaks out at the hearing.
Being able to drive without permission means freedom. When something bad happens and Dawn needs to escape, she often steals a car from someone in her family, and drives off, letting the sound of the radio drown out her worries. She is always surrounded by other people and their problems, so being in the car is often her only time to be alone where she can reflect on her needs without being interrupted. When she drives, she often doesn’t know where she is going, which mimics how she feels in life. Later, when Willett invites her to visit him in Tennessee, Dawn decides she needs a car of her own so that she can make the drive to visit him without relying on borrowing, or stealing, a car from someone else.
Trampoline
The trampoline was a present from Dawn’s father. Even though Dawn’s father is long gone, his family still feels his support, and the trampoline is there to save them when they need it most. In a literal sense, it saves Momma’s life when she climbed up in the tree when she was drunk, and later, it saves Hubert’s life when he tries to hang himself.
Moreover, the trampoline also serves as a metaphor that illustrates that, despite their dysfunction, Dawn’s family bounces back from their setbacks. Dawn’s life is a rollercoaster: she steals cars and crashes them, she gets drunk, she is kicked out of school, yet she always manages to stay afloat with the help of people who believe in her. Even Momma, whose erratic behavior and drunkenness pervades the story, redeems herself in the end. Keith’s death serves as a wakeup call for her, and she starts to attend church with Keith’s sister.
Punk Music
Dawn hears punk music for the first time early in the story when the radio plays a song by the 90s punk band Black Flag. She is struck by the jangly guitar sounds and screaming vocals that are unlike anything she has heard before. Dawn connects with the music because it expresses the emotions she feels but cannot, or is afraid to, put into words herself. Punk music tells Dawn that it is okay to feel the things she feels. It propels her to do things she never thought she would be able to do, like speaking out against coal companies. Her anger at the meeting where she speaks out in front of the state representatives mirrors the lyrics and sounds she hears on the radio.
Music also separates Dawn from the rest of her peers, like her friend Evie who claims she only likes new music. Dawn feels different from her classmates, whose dull, superficial conversations and interests cause Dawn to roll her eyes. Discovering punk music leads her to find people with similar interests, like Willett Bilson, who similarly found himself through radio and punk music.
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