A Long Way from Chicago

Though the train is rarely featured directly in the novel, its presence plays an important role in determining how each story begins and ends, as well as what philosophical meanings those beginnings and endings hold for the characters as they grow and change. For each of the first five summer visits, the narration makes it a point to describe Joey and Mary Alice’s arrivals and departures from Grandma’s town, and the use of the train to punctuate their week-long visits during these early stories establishes a baseline for each character at the beginnings of their development. Therefore, the train is the literal and figurative vehicle that brings them to a place in which they will physically and emotionally grow and change as people. The train also represents what Joey and Mary Alice take, both physically and figuratively, from Grandma and the town. The kitten and the food hamper in Chapter 8 are physical items that simultaneously represent the best of their grandmother’s love even as they signify an ending: the very last time they will visit the town and their grandmother. In the previous chapters, no mention is made of Grandma sending anything home with them; this suggests that the hamper is her parting gift and a way of saying goodbye. Mary Alice’s decision to take the kitten is also her way of adopting something from the town itself: something that will become a symbol of the lessons that Mary Alice carries with her internally, especially her determination to follow Grandma’s lead in taking what she wants and using her wits to keep it. And in one last tribute to all that Grandma has taught them, Joey’s nonstop train ride past Grandma’s house in Chapter 9 symbolizes the necessity of moving on from earlier chapters in life and embracing the next adventures that life holds.