Character Clues

Character Analysis

Family Life

Family is pretty much the driving force in Dicey's life—it's why she makes every single decision in this novel. She desperately wants to keep her family together, so she won't go to the police because she's afraid the kids will be split up and put in foster homes. Think about that: This kid loves her siblings so much that she agrees to lead them on an eighty-mile walk with a couple dollars in their pockets rather than risk losing them. That's pretty amazing.

If Momma was gone… But that wasn't possible. Was it? But if she was, what could they do? Ask for help, probably from a policeman. (Would he put them in homes or orphanages? Wouldn't that be just what the police or some social worker would do?) (1.1.37)

Look at Dicey's devotion to family compared to some of the other characters in the story: Louis and Edie ran away from their families; Tom and Jerry complain about theirs; and Cousin Eunice devoted her life to her mother, but it doesn't really seem like she even liked the woman—she just did it out of duty. For her part, Abigail chose her husband over her children and drove them all away and now she's afraid she'll do the same thing with her grandchildren. To her, family means a chance to be hurt.

But the Tillerman kids do everything so that they can stay together. They're a unit and no one is going to tear them apart—making it clear that this is one loyal and appreciative bunch of kids.

Food

The Tillermans spend a whole lot of this book going without food, but beyond empty stomachs, different characters are also associated with different types of food or food experiences. Momma, for example, only packs a few sandwiches for the kids to eat on their car trip to Bridgeport. If she was planning on leaving them, she wasn't really thinking that through—though, of course, that's probably the point.

The food the kids eat on the road is generally cheap, which is kind of a bummer. And Dicey occasionally regrets their food choices—especially when a meal doesn't fill them up enough. Fishing and clamming are free, though, and the kids seem to enjoy that the best since they can eat their fill and the food is fresh and delicious.

Windy buys them fast food in a diner and you get the feeling that, as a college student, he spends a whole lot of time eating delicious burgers and fries. This is also exactly the kind of meal that Dicey can't afford to give her siblings while they're traveling.

At Cousin Eunice's house all there are only TV dinners and casseroles, which the kids don't seem to like very much—at one point there's a reference to "weeks of Cousin Eunice's frozen dinners and pot pies" (2.2.166)—but her terrible (and terribly limited) culinary skills represent just how unprepared Eunice is for the kids, which just goes to show how bad of a fit her home is for them.

Conversely, at Abigail's house, the food is fresh and delicious, just like the kids like it. She catches crabs in traps out back and grows her own fruits and vegetables. This is partly because Abigail is self-sufficient—she doesn't need to go shopping every day, she just runs out to the backyard to get dinner—but it also means that her house is exactly the right place for the Tillermans and the way they've learned to live.

Thoughts and Opinions

Even though Dicey is a careful planner, she tries not to think too much, probably because the thoughts swirling around in her head are pretty depressing. Why did their mother leave them? How are they going to get to Bridgeport? Are they going to starve? Nice things like that. She frequently tells her siblings that she doesn't want to think about difficult subjects. Of course, what she really means is that she doesn't want to think about them out loud:

"I'm not going to think about what might have happened to her, and I don't think you should, either."

"I can't help thinking about it," James said in a small voice. (1.1.66-67)

There's no way Dicey isn't mulling over what's happened to their mom—just no way—but she doesn't want to share it with her young charges. James on the other hand, thinks about everything, and he's pretty into vocalizing his thoughts and opinions. Dicey seems to think some subjects are best left alone, but James has a thirst for knowledge and truth that makes him want to pour over all kinds of facts and figures in his brain. That must be why we like that kid so much.

Cousin Eunice, however, has a whole lot of trouble thinking for herself. When she first meets the Tillermans, she has to run off and call Father Joseph to decide what to do:

"You're alone?" Cousin Eunice asked. They nodded. "Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. You poor, sweet little things. I don't know what to think. I have to ask advice. Will you excuse me to make a phone call? You're absolutely alone? I don't know what should be done." (1.9.82)

It's not until Father Joseph convinces Eunice that it's her Christian duty that she agrees to take the Tillermans in. And even though she's been studying theology for quite a while and is really devout, it's clear she doesn't have too many thoughts of her own about the Bible. Yes, she's a bit empty in the brain department.

Abigail has recently come into her own thoughts and opinions since her husband died—and she's not anxious to give them up. Thankfully, she and Dicey find eventually common ground because they're both fighters with really strong opinions about the world. And in this shared trait, they begin coming together for good.