68 pages • 2 hours read
Christopher Paul CurtisElijah of Buxton
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Names and Identity
Names and identity are motifs in the novel, and symbolically they contribute to the theme of opportunity, equality, and freedom. Names and identity represent individuality, free thinking, and choice.
Sammy, whom Elijah meets at the carnival, tells Elijah about another Elijah who lives in Chatham. According to Sammy, Elijah of Chatham detests boys’ having names even slightly like his. Late in the novel, Elijah calls himself “Elijah of Buxton” when Mrs. Chloe asks him his name. Specifying his town lends his name an individualized identity, one that no one will confuse with the Chatham Elijah.
Mr. Leroy carves a wood plank that commemorates the life of Mrs. Holton’s husband, whose name, John Holton, appears on the second line. When she sees the sign, Mrs. Holton is happy with Elijah’s revision of the inscription and thinks Mr. Leroy’s carving makes the plank “look important” (218). Though her husband is no longer living, the inscription associates his name with the power of the spirit.
MaWee has no power or choice as a slave, but when Sir Charles bestows the name MaWee on Jimmy Blassingame, the substitute for the slingshot show, the real MaWee feels helpless and worried. All MaWee has in his carnival life is his name and identity.
Hope’s name is symbolic of the chance for freedom as an equal right for all people one day. Kamau, her father, calls her “Too-mah-ee-nee” (spelled Tumaini in Swahili, and which means hope). Elijah cannot singlehandedly save all the slaves in the stable, but it is fitting that the one he carries to freedom in Canada is named Hope.
Lies and Truth
The motif of lies and truth contributes to the theme of gullibility and fear versus maturity and fortitude theme.
The Preacher lies to or misleads Elijah and others several times, from the hoop snakes near the novel’s start to his plans for Mr. Leroy’s gold near the end. His fabrications cause Ma and Pa to mistrust him; no evidence exists that he is a real preacher; Elijah hears a pack of lies from the Preacher the night of the carnival. When Mr. Leroy asks Elijah if he can trust the Preacher, however, Elijah still thinks that no one would be able to take money meant to free a man’s enslaved family members: “Couldn’t no one but a demon be that cold-hearted, and even if the Preacher had a whole boatload of things that’d make you wonder, couldn’t no one say he waren’t a man” (235).
The silver pistol is a symbol that stands for lies when it is in the Preacher’s hands. Some suspect he came into possession of the pistol by foul play, and he lies initially when he claims Elijah can fire it. The Preacher also lies about the fact that he has two silver pistols, not one. It is ironic that the silver pistol is the weapon with which Mr. Leroy plans to threaten or harm the Preacher.
Elijah himself fibs or behaves dishonestly at times in the book. He sneaks out of the house to meet Cooter in the woods without permission; when he finds the white horse that belonged to the slavers, he runs back inside to get Pa, lying that he saw the horse out the window.
Elijah also doesn’t reveal the truth about going to the carnival, and he lies to his parents and Mrs. Bixby the night of the meeting so that he can go with Mr. Leroy to Michigan. By the end of the novel, Elijah recognizes at least one instance when a certain kind of dishonesty is acceptable—he creates several untruths to rationalize taking Hope to Canada, intuitively understanding that the narrative is important to Mrs. Chloe.
Food
Food in the novel stands for the strength and sustenance supplied by relatives and neighbors. As a symbol, food supports the theme of family and community.
The fish Elijah catches symbolize the community’s willingness to contribute to the good of all in Buxton. When the Preacher takes the fish for himself, we see that he does not share the same kind of selfless charity as other neighbors in Buxton do; his motives for “helping the Settlement” have include benefits for himself.
Food also symbolizes the need we have to come together in the face of tragedy, as when Ma and the women of Buxton go to Mrs. Holton’s house for the reading of the letter. They bear a variety of dishes to offer to Mrs. Holton as she deals with the news of the death of her husband. The food gives the women a reason to stay after Elijah reads the letter so that Mrs. Holton will not be alone, and their sharing the food stands for continued life for those who survive the deceased.
Elijah tries to gather food at his house for the trip to Michigan with Mr. Leroy, but he can no longer pack “provisions” after running into Ma and Pa. The lack of sustenance symbolizes an unfulfilled resolution concerning Mr. Leroy’s family and foreshadows Mr. Leroy’s tragic end.
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By Christopher Paul Curtis
