Character Clues
Character Analysis
Props
Sarah's always reading, Gram's got her paintbrush, Joe shows up at the Walker house, guitar in hand. It's nice that all the characters in The Sky is Everywhere have hobbies, but those props they carry around serve a deeper purpose: They show readers what the characters really care about.
Think of props in The Sky is Everywhere as windows to the characters' souls. For example, take Sarah's book. Upon first meeting Sarah, with her costume clothes and exuberant way of speaking, you might assume she's… quirky? Dramatic? "A reader" isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But as we get to know Sarah, we learn that she's extremely well read, and theories and ideas are very important to her.
Clothing
We're going to cheat a little and add "hairdos" to clothing, because Lennie's changing hair (she starts taking it out of its ponytail more and more as the story progresses, so it's a mass of "wild" curls around her face) is a sign that she's changing internally.
Similarly, for the wedding, when Gram considers wearing pants, Lennie reacts strongly: "The earth has just slid off its axis. Gram has a floral frock for every occasion—I've never seen her out of one" (38.4). Gram's change of style symbolizes her growth; she's moved on from trying to comfort everyone and is now out to impress a crush. You go, Gram.
On the other hand, we have Sarah, who changes her whole look with every outfit. Does that mean she's constantly changing internally? Not necessarily, but it does contrast her nicely with the deep-in-their-routines Walker characters. Sarah is like an ambassador from the outside world. She brings school and Clover gossip to Lennie, and she's not coping with the heartache of grief the same way the Walkers are. Her irreverent attire reminds us of this difference.
Speech and Dialogue
Gram's got her own garden-y sayings, Toby is monosyllabic, Sarah is generally exclamatory, and Joe's words tumble over each other. A huge part of Nelson's writing involves giving all her characters their own particular ways of speaking.
So? you might say. Doesn't every author do that? If you want to understand the full effect of dialogue in the book, imagine switching the way each character speaks. Imagine if Toby talked quickly in Joe-like run-on sentences, instead of saying, "You're not horrible, Lennie," his voice "gentle, intimate" (21.23). His connection with Lennie would make no sense, right? Lennie feels comforted by his gentleness, and heart-poundingly (yeah, that's not a word) excited by Joe's joy.
The characters' speech, then, has the effect of making readers empathize with them, as well as understand why they relate to each other the way they do.