57 pages • 1 hour read
Louis SacharThere's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Toy Animals
While Bradley is an “island” (10) at school without friends, he has a community at home, and the little animals symbolize his community. About Bradley’s collection of around 20 little animals, the narrator states, “They were all friends. And they all liked Bradley” (16). Bradley personifies them, turning them into humans. He gives them personalities and agency. They can talk. The lion screams, “Let’s hear it for Bradley” (17). Since Bradley isn’t ready to enter a real community—a group of other young people—he maintains his community of objects. Through the animals, Bradley reveals that he has the potential to be a compassionate person. He feeds them (bits of paper) and watches out for them.
At school, Bradley is mean and repellent. With his animals, he is teacherly and thoughtful. After Ronnie the Rabbit almost drowns in the pond (a grape juice stain), Bradley reminds her, “You shouldn’t have gone swimming right after eating” (18). The animals support Bradley too. Distraught over his mom’s meeting with Mrs. Ebbel, Ronnie comforts him, “Don’t cry. Everything will be all right” (23). Around the animals, Bradley can display emotion. He can be vulnerable. They’re a part of him—they’re his community.
Communities don’t always get along, and the animals also symbolize the conflicts groups can have. Bartholomew teases Bradley for reading, and the other animals gang up on Ronnie and expel her from the community. Bradley’s animal community mimics his developing community in real life, with the status of Ronnie representing Bradley’s feelings for Carla. Bradley is mad at Carla for leaving, so bad things happen to Ronnie. Once Bradley accepts her departure, Ronnie comes back. As Ronnie symbolizes Carla, Bradley gives the rabbit to his counselor. He tells her, “It’s a gift from the heart” (185). Ronnie was a part of him and his rich, imaginative community.
Saying Hi
Although hi— or hello—is only one word, the greeting carries significant symbolism in Sachar’s novel, symbolizing humanity. In Chapter 10, Colleen, Lori, and Melinda all say “hi” or “hello” to Jeff, and Jeff says, “Hello, hi, hi” (48). The exchange upsets Bradley. He hates the girls, and Jeff says he hates the girls too. Bradley asks, “Why’d you say hello to them?” Echoing the J. D. Salinger novella that Carla cites in Chapter 34, Jeff replies, “Whenever anybody says hello to me, I always say hello back” (49). Unlike Bradley, Jeff doesn’t cast himself as a monster. He’s human, and the three girls are human, so they say hi to one another. Saying hi represents humanity; more specifically, it’s a way to acknowledge that a person is a person—they’re a part of the human species.
In the Salinger novella Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, the Zen monks say hi to one another as a form of acknowledgment, and the children at school use hi or hello similarly. In monster mode, Bradley rejects humanity and wants to punish the girls for saying hi. He tells Jeff, “Let’s go beat them up! Then they won’t say hello to you anymore” (52). Yet Melinda beats up Bradley—the hi and humanity wins. When Jeff flirts with being a monster and tells the girls, “[Q]uit saying hello to me” (93), Melinda beats up Jeff—the hellos and humanity win again.
Bradley reveals his humanity and determination to be a good person in Chapter 32. He says hi to Colleen, and she “stopped and looked at him oddly, then walked away without returning his hello” (126). She doesn’t say hi back—she still thinks he’s a monster. His hello represents that he’s not a monster, and, later, Colleen realizes that and invites him to her birthday.
There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom Title
While provocative and striking, the title is not without significant symbolic meaning. The title displays atypical social norms. There’s a bathroom for girls and a bathroom for boys. As a boy enters the girls’ bathroom, Sachar shows that these norms aren’t stable. The gender binary isn’t concrete—it’s easy to upend. Jeff accidentally enters the girls’ bathroom. Thus, people can subvert gender norms without even intending to. Bradley intentionally enters the girls’ bathroom, not for insidious reasons, but to have a safe space to eat his lunch. Jeff and his friends are trying to hurt him, and the girls’ bathroom provides him temporary shelter. What helps one gender can also help another. As Carla and Colleen intentionally enter the boys’ bathrooms—Carla to talk to Bradley, Colleen to follow Jeff—they flip the title and prove that a girl can be in a boys’ bathroom.
While the title specifically alludes to gender norms, the book shows that most norms are malleable. Part of Bradley’s problem is that he thinks of norms as ironclad when they’re not. He doesn’t have to be good at basketball to play basketball. Bradley admits, “I’m not very good” (129). Jeff replies, “None of us are” (129). Later, he realizes he doesn’t follow the norms of a birthday party to have a blast. He knocks over a cup and his chair and messes up the lyrics to the birthday song, yet he still won first place. As the title indicates, norms are negotiable, so when they’re broken, it doesn’t have to be a big deal—it’s normal to not follow norms.
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