57 pages • 1 hour read
Stanley Gordon WestUntil They Bring The Streetcars Back
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Importance of Resilience
Resilience is central to the novel and is reflected even in the title of the book—Cal declares he will walk “until they bring the streetcars back,” suggesting a sense of personal ethics will guide him as he continues through life despite all obstacles. The resilient spirit behind the declarative title applies to many of the characters enduring difficult circumstances. On the periphery of the main storyline, characters like Lola, Sandy, and Steve display resilience. At the heart of the story, Cal’s friendship with Gretchen best details the importance of staying resilient while facing seemingly insurmountable odds.
Many of Cal’s friends are involved in their own uphill battles off the page. These subjects are mentioned in passing, particularly when the characters rely on Cal for support. Lola, for example, struggles with her parents’ divorce. Sandy struggles with her adoption. Steve, perhaps the most extreme example of Cal’s friends, lost his brother, and his parents suggest this is his fault. He lives with this guilt, along with a physical disability, and nearly attempts to die by suicide in the novel. These background moments highlight the difficult obstacles many face in their personal lives despite appearances and the necessity of hope and strength in the worst of times.
The resilience in the spotlight relates to Cal and Gretchen. To help Gretchen, Cal constantly perseveres and pushes himself toward his goal. When Gretchen tells Cal that her dad “instructs” her, Cal wants to help but also thinks, “[M]aybe I could listen to my dad, who always told me to leave well enough alone and stay out of trouble” (54). However, Cal doesn’t listen to his dad and chooses to help Gretchen escape her father. To save her, he faces death, jail, the loss of Lola, and the loss of a high school diploma. Realizing Cal’s sacrifices, Gretchen says, “I bet you wish you’d never met me” (223). Still, Cal doesn’t make her feel guilty. He maintains that his steadfast determination was due to his compassion toward her and her circumstances, and that his personal ethics mean that he did the right thing regardless of the consequences.
Gretchen, too, represents resilience. Gretchen has endured a lifetime with Otto and still hasn’t given up hope. She constantly worries about “going crazy,” like her sister, and she considers death by suicide. Still, Gretchen lets Cal into her life and gathers the courage to share her trauma with him. Cal underlines her resilience when he says, “[Gretchen] had more guts than I’d ever have if I lived 63 lifetimes” (115). Her bravery despite the monster she faces every day speaks to her strength and determination to escape her imprisonment.
Showing Compassion for Others
Compassion requires challenging the status quo. When Cal saves the rabbit from the grade school boys, Lurine tells him, “If you’d leave well enough alone, you wouldn’t be covered with blood” (11). Later, when Lurine and Peggy bring McCluskey’s dog to Horace’s attention, Horace says, “It’s none of our business” (15). Ultimately, Peggy ignores her mom and dad and shows compassion for the rabbit and dog by feeding them. Horace later ignores his own advice and calls the Humane Society on McCluskey’s dog. Apathy and disinterest are sometimes societal norms, but Cal grows to express his compassion more openly as the novel progresses, learning from his family and listening to his moral compass as he navigates Gretchen’s circumstances.
The motif of animals and nature supports this theme. West regularly provides parallels between people and animals in danger, vulnerable to predators and harmful circumstances. Cal showing compassion toward the rabbit and the dog acts as a stepping stone for the ultimate trial—helping Gretchen, even if it means endangering himself and risking his life. Cal’s compassion for Gretchen develops as she shares her trauma with him. After Gretchen tells him about the cabins, Cal says, “Right then I knew I couldn’t put off doing something any longer” (127). His compassion propels him to act, and though he maintains an active social life, his primary purpose revolves around showing Gretchen compassion by saving her.
Compassion doesn’t always manifest as a direct concern for someone else. When Cal and his friends engage the Runner, their intent is prankish and antagonistic. When Cal visits the Runner’s house alone, he meets his wife, Jeanette, who turns the mischievous game into a form of compassion. By knocking on the door and running away, Cal and his friends, unbeknownst to them, brought joy to the Runner, whose real name is John. John liked chasing after them. Jeanette says, “When he got back, he felt wonderful” (231). Cal later finds the kindness within himself to spend time with the couple regularly, continuing to help the old man even as he is confined to the house.
Confronting Mature Issues in Adolescence
As the cultural context reveals, teens often inhabit a dangerous world. The teens in Until They Bring the Streetcars Back deal with dead siblings, divorce, adoption, suicide ideation, and sexual abuse. World events add to the conflict. Addressing the tension and possible war between Russia and the United States, Cal admits, “I tried to imagine what it would be like to get fried by an atom bomb, and it was scary” (125). Throughout the novel, West brings attention to the many heavy issues teens face even as they are ignored or dismissed by adults because of their age. Young adulthood is a precarious time in which the two phases of life merge, leaving children to navigate difficult situations without experience or, in some cases, support.
As in other works covering teens and their traumatic experiences, the adults are mostly helpless. Horace and Lurine listen to the news, so they’re aware of the threat of communism and nuclear war, but they can’t help Cal and Gretchen. Helga told the cops about Otto, and they didn’t believe her. The cops only made the abuse worse. After Cal sends Pastor Ostrum to speak to Otto, Pastor Ostrum reports, “They’re a little somber, but they seem like a solid Christian family” (145). These characters emphasize the periphery adults inhabit in a teenager’s world—they can be dismissive and ignorant of the severity of issues young people face, even to a detrimental extent. The cluelessness of adults pushes Cal to realize that he couldn’t “let it slide, hoping for some big miracle, hoping some adults would notice her and step in and do something” (127). To help Gretchen, Cal continually puts himself in harm’s way. As Otto almost kills him, he risks his life for Gretchen. He also loses his girlfriend and he winds up in jail.
Gretchen embodies this theme most directly. Though many examples of the mature issues she confronts are off the page, it is made clear to the reader that she has lived a lifetime of abuse under her father’s care. He won’t let any other family member speak out against him. Gretchen watched as her sister’s mental health condition deteriorated and as her father placed Helga in a psychiatric hospital when she attempted to escape. Gretchen endures sexual, physical, and emotional abuse regularly, and it greatly impacts her quality of life. Trapped in the only life she has ever known, Gretchen must channel great resilience and courage to find a way to safety. Her childhood was effectively taken from her because of her treatment, meaning she has been living in a cruel world for much—if not all—of her life.
Other teens in Until They Bring the Streetcars Back also deal with mature issues, and these characters express feelings of isolation or confusion regarding their challenges. Sandy faces her adoption trauma by confronting people on the street who look like her. Steve tackles his trauma by talking to Cal about his distress over polio and his departed brother. Neither Steve nor Sandy repress or avoid their anguish, but instead viscerally feel their emotions. Whether by choice or necessity, these young characters face their battles head-on and navigate treacherous circumstances on their own.
