Hum If You Don't Know the Words

Bianca MaraisFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-11

Chapters 12-22

Chapters 23-34

Chapters 35-45

Chapters 46-58

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Robin’s Mother’s Mascara

The mascara tube represents a physical connection for Robin to her parents. Thrust into a new life, she grasps at a way to remain tied to her old one. She must leave behind her bike, her neighborhood, and her school. She loses her parents and Mabel. She watched her mother use the mascara on the night she died and then jokingly throw it at her father. The tube represents her parents’ complex love for each other and the fact that she loves them even if she struggles to express it.

In addition, the mascara becomes a proxy for Robin’s emotions because her mother always looked down upon expressing feelings. For the same reason that Robin creates Cat, she keeps the mascara. If her emotions can take up space outside of her, then they can be separate from her. Robin hides the mascara in Edith’s apartment under the floorboards in the only space that is hers. Later, Beauty discovers her secret compartment by accident, signifying that Robin is learning to be open again.

Morrie’s Photos

Morrie constantly takes pictures of ugly things—a piece of old food, a trash can, a rip in the couch. Robin struggles to understand why, but he continues with his hobby, explaining that his grandfather says “the world is a cruel place and it’s our job to record its ugliness” (118). Morrie doesn’t shy away from the ugliness of the world like Robin does. This motif reinforces the theme of The Value of Bearing Witness. Morrie’s grandfather’s statement about recording the world’s ugliness foreshadows the events that take place after Morrie takes a picture of Nomsa talking to Robin. What Robin should have given to Beauty as a sign of hope was hidden away and instead became proof of her lies.

The “Believe” Pendant

Maggie gives Beauty a pendant that portrays a man carrying a baby across a body of water. On the back of the pendant, one word is engraved: “Believe.” Maggie says she gives this gift to those in the resistance whose friendship she values most, but it also contains the message that Beauty needs to hear. Beauty doesn’t believe that their movement will result in any good because so much of the resistance has become violent, but Maggie tells her she must have hope.

When Robin has scarlet fever, sees the pendant dangling from Beauty’s neck, and its shine and image give her hope. However, when Beauty has a heart attack, the pendant snaps. Her shock over what Robin did and her devastation that she may never see Nomsa again conspire to fracture her belief.

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Robin puts the pendant on a new chain and wears it during her journey to retrieve Nomsa in Soweto. When she finally speaks to Nomsa in the car, Robin gives her the pendant, hoping that it will give her strength, and moments later Nomsa decides to leave with her. The pendant gives each character faith when they need it most.