44 pages • 1 hour read
Kiley ReidSuch a Fun Age
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaPart 4: Chapters 21-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4, Chapter 21 Summary
Alix returns from New York feeling that the city “was like an ex who had worked out all summer” (214). She had experienced a full, fun trip, with Catherine on her side. Now that she was back, she was excited about both her career and about bouncing back from the bad Thanksgiving. On the first day back, Emira asks if she could take Briar to a movie, asking for permission to use the computer to look up the showtime. As Emira finishes sending the movie time to herself via email, Alix asks if they can talk.
After asking Emira to sit down and talk, Alix breaks the ice about Kelley, arguing that she thinks “the same issues” (217) that she experienced might come up with Kelley and Emira. Though Emira expresses some disinterest in continuing the conversation, Alix presses on, revealing that Kelley “had a habit of fetishizing African American people and culture” (218). Alix is proud of the ways she has managed to phrase that, but Emira reacts by brushing the suggestion off and arguing that “it would feel weird to make it a thing now when it hasn’t been a problem” (219). Alix feels stymied by Emira’s dismissal of the issue.
After Emira leaves to take Briar to the movies, Alix heads out on a new mission, wearing lipstick and arranging her hair, which she had freshly done in New York. It was easy for her to intercept Kelley Copeland on his way back to work with to-go containers of salad. Alix asks to sit and talk with him. He is angry about her finding him and is brusque in manner.
Alix begins expressing her concerns over Kelley dating Emira, and he reacts sarcastically. She pushes, telling him that it’s not okay to “fetishiz[e] black people […] with my sitter” (224). Kelley retaliates by coolly suggesting that she is overemotional because he broke up with her and that he is “in love with Emira” (225), as well as the fact that it is none of Alix’s business who Emira dates. Struggling with his “diplomatic” (226) response, Alix retorts by addressing Kelley’s role in getting Robbie arrested, which Kelley laughs off, saying that he never even received that letter. Their argument escalates further, with Kelley making several points about Alix’s racist treatment of Emira before choosing to leave even though Alix wants to continue arguing.
When she returns home, flustered and angry, Alix opens her email to a series of emails from her editor about why she is late with the book manuscript, with a kindly-worded threat about rewriting the contract. In the midst of a panic, Alix then realizes that she had left Catherine at home the whole time she was out arguing with Kelley. As she picks up and soothes her infant, Alix comes up with another idea when she sees Emira’s email account still open on the computer. She finds the video quickly in Emira’s inbox and immediately calls Peter’s coworker, Laney, for a favor.
Part 4, Chapter 22 Summary
Emira celebrates her birthday out with her friends at a restaurant serving cheap drinks. She appreciates each gift, from a new phone case to some “interview shirts” (234), and makes a sweet toast thanking her friends for their support while she has struggled through this year. She also shares the exciting news that she has gotten an interview for a job next week. Emira had been applying to jobs all week; she couldn’t wait to share the news with Kelley, who had sent over flowers for her birthday that morning.
When Kelley arrives at the bar to meet Emira, she tells him about her morning at the movies with Briar. She then explains that his “high school sweetheart was back on her bullshit today” (237), and Kelley says he would like to talk about Alix with her, as well as some other stuff, but her birthday night might not be the time or place. Emira tells him about the interview, and then she and Kelley rejoin her friends to celebrate. Shortly after, Zara pulls her to the bathroom for what seems to be a fake emergency.
In the bathroom, Zara, Shaunie, and Josefa ask her, “Did you share that video?” (240). Someone has leaked the video of Emira, and it is all over the internet. Emira begins to panic. Headlines on Twitter describe Emira’s actions at Market Depot that night. The girls discuss how the video could have possibly leaked, landing on the only realistic option: that Kelley shared it since it had been on his phone. Emira hates this and denies it at first, but then rushes out to confront Kelley, remembering some of the things he had said to her about getting justice.
When Emira asks Kelley if it was him who leaked the video, he immediately explains that it definitely wasn’t him, but Zara grabs his phone and finds the video in the sent folder of his email, proving that he still had access to it. Her head swirling, Emira thinks, “My boyfriend leaked a video of me?” (247). As Emira’s friends gather around her and order an Uber, Kelley persists after her, finally calling out that he thinks it was Alix who leaked the video. Emira yells back at him about how he and Alix are “obsessed” (249) with each other and then gets in the Uber with her friends.
Part 4, Chapters 21-22 Analysis
One of the most interesting facets of the structure of Such a Fun Age is the way that Reid juxtaposes Alix and Emira’s alternating narratives to expose how white people’s perspectives on racism can be wildly different from those of people of color. In contrast to Emira’s calm, inward reflections, Alix appears calculating, confused, and extremely dysfunctional. Critical race theorists like Janet Helms, Robin DiAngelo, and Cheryl Matias have discussed at length the ways that white people experience cognitive dissonance and unhealthy patterns of behavior in relation to their white identity, especially if they are a white person who does not address their complicity in a racist society. Alix Chamberlain’s character is a perfect example of this; Reid makes this extremely clear by continuously placing Alix’s narrative side-by-side with Emira’s.
The juxtaposition of Alix and Emira’s perspectives appears perfectly in Chapters 21 and 22. In Chapter 21, Alix carefully weighs out how to approach the issue that is causing her so much pain and anger, eventually choosing to cause harm while telling herself that her actions are helpful. This kind of behavior is a common response that white people have to a difficult situation that is in some way complicated (for them) by race. Rather than honestly, openly reflecting on what is upsetting her, Alix reacts by taking out her feelings, doing so at the expense of Emira’s wellbeing. Meanwhile, Emira, who is struggling with the repercussions of the actions of both white people she is closest with, has to deal with continued fallout in Chapter 22. By placing these two narratives in tension with one another, Reid illustrates the pain that white people cause when they behave in ignorant or self-serving ways because they are intentionally or unintentionally unaware of their racism.
