35 pages • 1 hour read
Margaret Peterson HaddixRunning Out Of Time
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1995A 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
Cameras and Mirrors
Even before Ma revealed that Clifton village was littered with hidden cameras and two-way mirrors, Jessie knew there was something “haunted” about the boxes in the trees. Her instinct was proven correct when Pa and another neighbor spanked her for asking about the mysterious boxes. She also reflects on the mirror in her cabin: “Across from the door, the ornate mirror on the back wall reflected little light. Even if it was one of the few heirlooms brought from Pennsylvania, Jessie had never liked the mirror. Maybe she’d been yelled at to stay away from it too many times when she was younger” (13). After Ma’s revelation, Jessie wonders how non-sentient things like cameras and mirrors can capture images of the villagers and present them to strangers. Jessie is wary of being watched, especially after witnessing footage of the villagers.
Jessie’s knowledge of surveillance affects her throughout her journey. She is embarrassed of rebellious things she has done in private and finds every mirror suspect. She knows that surveillance may change the behavior of the observed and wonders yet again if she could trust the adults in her life: if they knew they had an audience, are they really who they are, or are they just performing what the audience wants? If she knew she was being observed, would she still be the same person?
In addition to symbolizing Clifton’s malevolent secrecy, the cameras and mirrors signal the clear divide of reality and fiction, of inside the village and the modern world. Jessie is caught between the two, both internally and externally.
Clothing and Identity
The novel’s juxtaposes past and present, seen in the contrast between period and modern clothing. Jessie and the Clifton women wear skirts and flowing dresses, while the men wear pants to mimic the fashion of the 1800s. Ma recalls wearing bellbottoms in the 1970s and jeans in the 1980s; she worries that passing down her 1980s clothing will make Jessie stand out in 1996. Jessie cannot believe that women wear trousers in “the future” and notes that she can walk and maneuver more freely in them. Ma’s windbreaker also feels strange to Jessie. When Jessie makes it outside, she notices the other teens wearing unrecognizable band T-shirts and shirts with smiley faces. The only people wearing 1800s clothing outside the actual village are the costumed tour guides and guards. Jessie finds small comfort in seeing them in familiar clothing.
In the end, when Jessie is in the hospital, she describes Ma as “a woman in a pink top and blue jeans” (179). Jessie’s image of her parents and past is so inherently tied to clothing that she almost does not recognize her mother in modern attire. Her father must be forced to wear modern clothes because his own sense of identity is tied to the past.
Clothing becomes a marker of moving on for Jessie; she wears her flowing skirt one last time before she starts school outside Clifton. She decides that she will begin wearing T-shirts and jeans to fit in at her new school. This signals her attempt at overcoming the trauma of her experience and embracing her new future.
Jessie’s Pack
The pack that Jessie carries with her throughout her journey is a true lifeline. It allows her to survive out in the modern world while keeping her connected to her past in Clifton. Ma prepares the pack for her and fills it with food, a wallet with money and photos, and a note wishing Jessie luck. The note contains the number for Isaac Neeley, who Jessie is relying on for help. As Jessie goes through the pack’s contents, she finds a photo of herself and her sister, Hannah, in 1983; this becomes “proof, then, that Jessie had lived in the world outside Clifton” (94). This triggers an identity crisis; her sense of self is tied to Clifton and not the outside world. She cries and feels “unbearably homesick” for her parents, siblings, and the life she knew (93). Still, she finds comfort in the images of familiar presidents on the bills and coins in the wallet. The pack is a symbol of her mother’s love and her own cherished memories of home, but it is also essential to Jessie’s survival in modern society.
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By Margaret Peterson Haddix
