59 pages • 1 hour read
Renée WatsonThis Side of Home
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A 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
Sankofa
The sankofa is an Adinkra symbol from Ghana that represents learning from the past to improve the present. Adrinkra represent traditional pieces of wisdom. For example, the sankofa means “return and get it” (262). Watson introduces the symbol in Chapter 15 when Maya purchases “a necklace that has a bird with its head turned backward, taking an egg off its back” as a demonstration of solidarity with the only Black vendor at the event on Jackson Avenue (66). In Chapter 62, Mr. Washington teaches Maya that the symbol is “no ordinary bird” (262). This information comes from him because he offers the protagonist lessons about Portland’s history.
Maya applies the lesson of the sankofa by learning her city’s history, finding allies, and building community. For example, Maya reflects on Tony’s initial reluctance to engage with coursework about the civil rights movement and the injustices Black Americans faced: “I know how I felt always being portrayed as the victim. I’m sure being seen as the perpetrator feels just as awful” (213). Learning about historical white allies reminds Maya that she and Tony aren’t relegated to these damaging roles and helps her gain the confidence she needs to be open about their relationship. In addition, she fosters partnerships with Jackson Avenue’s white business owners.
In addition, this symbol encapsulates the novel’s messages; it considers contemporary social issues in light of lessons from history. Watson educates readers through techniques like Mr. Washington’s dialogue with the protagonist and by incorporating information about trailblazing Black journalists and white allies like Ethel L. Payne and Karl Fleming into the poster war story arc. The sankofa reflects the novel’s overall message about learning from the past.
The House Next Door
The house next door to the Younger family’s home is a motif representing The Complex Effects of Gentrification. This one building is connected to questions that gentrification raises for communities as a whole, such as whose home this is and who can afford to live there.
Economic factors force Essence out of the only home she’s ever known when her landlord decides to cash in on the neighborhood’s gentrification by selling the house. The landlord renovates the house for its new white owners, whereas he left his Black renters to fend for themselves when it came to problems like pest infestations and electrical issues. Essence tells Maya and Nikki, “[H]e goes and tells us it ain’t for us. Like we ain’t good enough to live in a place like this” (22). The novel explores the fact that people of color and people from low socioeconomic backgrounds are most impacted and displaced by gentrification across the United States. This is reflected in the way that the house’s residents change from the Jacksons to the Jacobs.
From Maya’s perspective, the house across the street is associated with both losses and gains. Her best friend has to move out, but this allows her love interest to move in. The house is the setting where Tony and Maya first see each other and where they confess their feelings for one another. This combination of positive and negative effects reflects Mr. Washington’s summation of gentrification: “It’s not all bad. Nothing ever is” (267). The house next door develops the theme of gentrification and provides a key setting for important moments in the plot.
Seasons
Throughout the novel, the seasons symbolize change. The changing of the seasons also serves as a structural element. Each of the novel’s five parts is titled after a season and opens with a brief reflection about that time of year. Over the course of the story, this motif provides insight into the protagonist’s dynamic characterization by showing how Maya learns to embrace change. For example, Chapter 1 opens with “June. The season is changing” (1). Watson creates a parallel between the weather’s oscillation between rain and sweltering heat and the transformations sweeping Maya’s neighborhood, changes that she regards with unease. In the first chapter of Part 2: “Fall,” Maya studies “the process of change” by observing the turning of autumn leaves (79). This shows that she is still wary of change but now wishes to understand it. The novel’s final part opens with another reflection on June, but this time the narrator’s tone towards change is accepting and hopeful: “The flowers are breathing again. The sun lingers, and days last and last. I have packed away winter, spring” (321). Watson uses the seasons to symbolize change, illustrate the protagonist’s growth, and shape the novel’s structure.
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