Across The Desert

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of addiction and bullying as well as grief due to the loss of immediate family members (father and sister).

“But I’m collecting so many boxes at this point that I worry about the day I won’t have room for any more. I don’t have endless storage, like a big fancy house. My storage space is more like one of those hoarder houses on this TV show Mom watches. And like the hoarder houses on TV, my insides keep getting more and more cluttered and unconformable and stuffed to bursting.”

Jolene’s boxes are metaphorical; she refers here to the little boxes of worry she tries to pack away when she feels the “car-crash feeling” (9) and other anxious emotions. This interior monologue demonstrates how Jo attempts to bottle up her feelings, having no availability of helpful resources or parental support. Her comment about not having a “big fancy house” also indirectly mirrors her socioeconomic situation; she and her mother live in a small apartment. Jo’s boxes, described through this imagery at the start of the book, provide a foundation for character change and the development of the theme of Personal Growth Through Adversity.

“I run out the automatic doors, the librarian calling after me. The hot air hits me like a smoking frying pan, but I push through. There’s a fire department around here somewhere, but I can’t remember which street.”

Jolene’s interior monologue relays her intensity and panic after witnessing Addie’s crash. The reader is brought along in a moment-by-moment sequence that comprises her indecision and struggle with the best course of action. The simile regarding the hot air is one of many consistent clues on the setting’s intense temperature; the climate contributes directly to the conflict, as Jo knows how difficult it will be for Addie to survive, alone and potentially injured, in the desert outside Phoenix.