The Pinballs

These chapters demonstrate The Importance of Love and Support in children’s lives, especially in the lives of children who have survived domestic abuse. They also show the children’s growth in their time at the Masons.

Most of the action in these last chapters revolves around the unnamed condition Harvey experiences in the hospital and Carlie and Thomas J’s attempts to “cure” him. By the day before his birthday, Harvey “wouldn’t speak to anyone,” and the “nurses had started feeding him through a tube on his arm” (113). Harvey is getting intravenous (IV) nutrition therapy, which means he is getting the nutrients he needs to live directly into his bloodstream through a vein. This is an extreme treatment usually reserved “for people who cannot absorb nutrients through their digestive system due to illness, surgery, or other medical conditions” or “for people who have a deficiency of certain nutrients or need extra nutrients to support their recovery from an illness or injury” (Sievert, Diane. “Malnutrition Treatment - Feeding Tube vs. IV Nutrition.” UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. 20 March 2023). It is likely that Harvey is receiving IV nutrition due to both his unresponsive behavior and the infection of his compound fracture.

When Carlie and Thomas J arrive at the hospital, Harvey was “staring at the ceiling” and “didn’t speak” (117, 118). This is the extent of the information the reader gets about what Harvey is experiencing. Because of his history with abuse and his confession to Carlie that he doesn’t know if he can “make it,” readers might be tempted to diagnose Harvey. Readers should be careful not to pathologize Harvey’s experiences. Doctors come to diagnoses after much discussion with their patient and careful consideration based on their extensive training. It is impossible for readers to provide this type of attention, and to diagnose a character with a specific condition could perpetuate negative biases and judgments. The book itself does not name or diagnose what Harvey is going through.

Rather than diagnosing Harvey, the book emphasizes the importance of supporting loved ones no matter what they are experiencing. By the end of the novel, Carlie and Thomas J both have grown in ways that make them more able to support Harvey. At the beginning of the novel, Carlie told Mrs. Mason that pinballs couldn’t help each other, but by the end of the novel, she is willing to risk angering Mrs. Mason by getting Harvey the puppy that Carlie is sure will “cure him.” Carlie remembers the significance getting a puppy has to Harvey. Since his mother promised him a puppy before leaving, it has come to symbolize his hope for a loving and supportive family life. Carlie has become more sensitive and considerate. She has begun to critically assess what her friends need and is willing to go out of her way to help those she cares about.

Thomas J has also grown during his time at the Masons. Instead of submissively following others’ leads, he begins to take an active role in his own life. He wants to be a partner in Carlie’s plans to get the puppy rather than a follower. When Mrs. Mason asks whose idea getting the puppy was, he is quick to say, “I helped” so he can take “his part of the blame” (125). Though Mrs. Mason does not blame them but encourages them, Thomas J sees taking responsibility in this way as a sign that he is actively helping his friends. Though he is still working on it, he no longer has no idea what to do or say to be a comfort, as he confessed to Mr. Mason earlier in the novel.

Carlie and Thomas J use their growth to help Harvey. The gift of the puppy shows Harvey how much the other two care for him. It allows him to cry for the first time since the accident. With a trusted connection to Carlie and Thomas J, Harvey now has somewhere safe to express his emotions, even the sad ones. The puppy elicits a complicated mix of emotions: Harvey both mourns what he has lost and the adversity he experienced and cries in happiness. His show of emotion shocks the nurses because it is “the first time Harvey has shown any sign of life in two days” (120). Because they each have grown, Carlie and Thomas J are able to help Harvey in turn.

While each of the three children grows on their own by the end of the novel, they also grow with the help of the others. Carlie realizes she can help her loved ones, Thomas J finds his own voice, and Harvey realizes that people truly care about him and want him in their lives.