68 pages • 2 hours read
John David AndersonPosted
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Sticky Notes
Sticky notes represent the main external conflicts of Posted. The sticky notes themselves are a stand-in for technology (text messaging and social media) once phones are banned at BMS. The notes become an outlet for the thoughts of BMS’s students, as well as a battleground for ideas. The notes symbolize the power of anonymity. Students never sign the sticky notes, allowing them to post messages without fear of having their words traced back to them. The notion of sharing ideas without consequences leads to students becoming bolder with their messages. This perceived freedom keeps students from seeing the harm their messages do until the war escalates to the “TOTAL ROMAN” message on Wolf’s locker.
The escalation of sticky notes also mirrors the progression of conflict in general. The trend begins with Deedee posting harmless notes on his friends’ lockers. A few people adopt the practice, followed by a few more, until the entire student body uses sticky notes to put their most private thoughts on display. The post-and-response format of the sticky note war at BMS is similar to “flame wars” on social media. By definition, a flame war is a conflict where increasingly mean or disparaging comments are exchanged on an online platform. Though not done via the internet, the sticky notes embody the same concept. As long as people believe they are somehow protected from consequences, they will engage in flame war-like activity.
The Gauntlet
Throughout Posted, the Gauntlet remains the only thing universally respected by the students of BMS. The hill and its obstacles act as local lore. Tales of children who attempted the Gauntlet circulate as warnings while success stories offer the promise of special status among both current classmates and future generations of students. The Gauntlet is used as a rite of passage, as well as a way to settle scores or impress people. Though challengers often get injured while running it, the potential for success outweighs the risks. The Gauntlet is also significant outside the world of Posted. The town of Branton is described as small, the Gauntlet mirroring rites of passage and secrets found in similar towns. Children don’t tell their parents about the Gauntlet as they would likely put a stop to it. Rather, the children take risks to prove themselves, or to prove something to others out of pride.
The fact that very few children make it through the Gauntlet proves the power of suggestion. Children who were raised in Branton know the horror stories and fear the hill. By contrast, Rose’s success running the Gauntlet shows how a different perspective can shape views. She didn’t grow up hearing about challengers getting hurt, so an inherent fear of the Gauntlet was never instilled in her. While Rose fears the Gauntlet as it looks difficult to complete, she doesn’t internalize it as being impossible. To Rose, running the Gauntlet is just a way to protect her friends.
The Origami Fish
Rose practices origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. The activity is not seen as particularly trendy, but Rose doesn’t let this bother her. She isn’t afraid of what others think, and her origami fish embodies this as well as the power of belief and perspective. The first time Rose does origami at lunch, Eric requests a Komodo dragon. Rose makes a fish, insisting it’s a Komodo dragon. Eric and the others don’t believe her, and Eric debates whether Rose is mediocre at origami or simply doesn’t know what a Komodo dragon is. Rather than being open to possibilities, Eric is narrow-minded, only defining a Komodo dragon the way he knows it to be.
Throughout the book, Rose continues to make origami fish, passing them off as a series of animals. While her perspective never changes, Eric’s does. By the end of the book, he asks Rose what her current animal is, even though it looks the same as the first fish she made. Origami opens Eric’s mind to viewing things differently. The fish is the only animal Rose makes, and her desire to frame it as different animals shows how she refuses to conform. She likely knows that her origami is none of the animals she claims, but to her, an animal is not defined by its shape or how it’s folded. It’s defined by her perspective.
Related Titles
By John David Anderson
