November Blues

Throughout the novel, tragedy and grief are predominant themes. After Josh’s death, everyone who loved him looks for their own way of coping with the loss of him. Jericho decides to abandon his trumpet, even though he had been playing it for years, and takes up football instead. During the practices, his head becomes “free of guilt and turmoil” (128), and he finds that football helps him concentrate on something other than his cousin’s death. Josh’s father also finds an outlet for his sorrow in physical activity: he takes up karate and spends most of his time at the gym. Josh’s mother, on the contrary, hardly leaves the house and suffers from depression. She begins to recover from her loss only when she finds out about November's baby, who is her granddaughter. The prospect of adopting her grandchild helps Mrs. Prescott cope with the tragedy of losing her son.

November finds out that she is pregnant in the very first chapter, and learning how to deal with pregnancy while still being a teenager becomes an overarching theme in the whole novel. November’s example demonstrates how little teenagers tend to know about pregnancy and how many misconceptions they have. Although November, like many of her peers, has taken sex education classes, she realizes that many aspects of pregnancy come to her as a surprise. For instance, she never thought that a woman’s body could undergo such fundamental transformations during pregnancy; therefore, she is not prepared to deal with such discomforts as nausea and backaches. November also learns that having unprotected sex even once can result in pregnancy, and having a baby at such a young age can change the whole trajectory of one’s life. Moreover, November does not realize the health risks associated with having a baby while still being a teenager, and initially finds it hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle for the sake of the baby.

Using November’s character, Draper brings to the fore concerns related to teen sex and pregnancy. Namely, she foregrounds such issues as the lack of discussion in a school setting about how to prevent pregnancy and the limited number of options about prenatal care available to teenagers.