The Girl Who Owned a City

Another motif, particularly in Part I, is vocabulary development. The specific words highlighted tend to connect to important themes in the novel. For example, Lisa considers the word “looting” in order to justify why what she’s doing is different than what looters do in riots; later, she explains and demonstrates the words “logical” and “strategy” to Todd. All three are key concepts in the novel: Lisa must justify what makes it acceptable for her to scavenge goods from abandoned warehouses, and the novel makes a clear argument for the value of careful planning and calm, logical thinking. Indeed, language is itself an important tool of rational thought (at least for humans), so it isn’t surprising that the novel devotes time to its development. 

The ability to drive serves as a symbol of freedom and survival for the children, as well as a watershed moment for Lisa. At first, none of the children seem to have even thought about learning how to drive; Lisa comes to the realization almost out of necessity, but it immediately sets her apart, not only because it increases her ability to find and retrieve supplies, but also because it demonstrates her ability to think in ways the other children cannot. Even after she learns to drive, most of the other children do not go out and try to teach themselves the skill; they mostly need Lisa to teach them how to drive. Moreover, when the children eventually go to the other towns to raise an army, they discover that most of those children have still not learned how to drive some two years after the plague.

It’s worth noting two pieces of context regarding automobiles and this novel. First, when Nelson first wrote this novel, automatic transmissions were not yet common, so it’s likely that the children were trying to learn how to drive manual transmission (i.e., stick-shift) cars. Second, the prevalence of cars and the importance of driving is significant given the backdrop of the 1970s gas crisis in the United States; cars are a symbol of freedom not only within the novel, but also in the real world, as readers struggling to get by without them would have understood.