47 pages • 1 hour read
Greetings From Witness Protection!
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Symbols & Motifs
Loblolly Middle School
Because Charlotte and Jackson are middle school students, much of the novel describes their activities at Loblolly Middle School. The school itself symbolizes the average experience of middle grade students around the country and speaks to the theme of The Effects of Living With a Fake Identity. The WITSEC agents chose the school specifically because it represents a national average. The students are neither brilliant nor dull-witted. The school’s sports teams don’t perform in a way that draws national attention. Both Jackson and Charlotte are cautioned to rein in their natural abilities and perform at an average level. Because both children are academically gifted, they must work hard to be average. When taking tests, they must second-guess wrong answers, and the Trevor parents review their homework to make sure that it never exceeds average expectations. For individuals as unique as Charlotte and Jackson, this represents a challenge.
However, their struggle to fit in is mirrored in the fake identities projected by their schoolmates. Everyone wants to be accepted and avoid criticism. Brit is so fearful of abuse that she becomes self-effacing. She excels at online gaming only when no one is looking at her. None of her peers at school know about her abilities. While Deidre isn’t afraid of the spotlight, she fears that someone might steal it from her. Her fake persona is the superstar. Holly’s fake persona is the overachieving student leader. WITSEC chose wisely in placing Charlotte and Jackson at Loblolly. Their fake personas easily blend in with a sea of others who are similarly pretending to be something they’re not.
The Foster Care System
Since Charlotte is a survivor of the foster care system, one may anticipate that this institution will receive major emphasis in the novel. It symbolizes the struggle to find a place where one belongs and relates to the theme of The True Meaning of Home. Ironically, Charlotte’s experience of the foster system is the opposite of its intended goal. As she herself admits, the results are haphazard: “Finances, leases running out—heck, one of my families got deported two weeks after I moved in” (4-5). Such domestic arrangements don’t ensure stability, leaving one to wonder about the purpose of such slapdash placements.
WITSEC is designed to protect people at risk, so it’s inherently dangerous, yet Charlotte jumps at the chance to become involved. Her sole incentive is the promise that she won’t be sent back into the system, no matter what. Although she doesn’t explicitly mention this fact, her decision implies that risking one’s life to protect strangers is somehow preferable to bouncing from one uncertain family arrangement to another. When Charlotte first meets the Trevors, she doesn’t seem concerned about forming emotional attachments to them. She’s focused on material stability, involving a roof over her head and meals on the table. Not until much later does she come to understand that a real home is much more than that. Fortunately, she and the Trevors all realize that fact before it’s too late.
Project Family
The name of the WITSEC initiative intended to safeguard families that have been marked for retaliation is Project Family. As such, the concept features prominently as a symbol of maintaining a family’s identity, but it really emphasizes the contrary theme of False Families and the Lack of Authenticity. While the concept of family protection is laudable, the US marshals who administer the program focus only on the mechanics of physical security. They worry about maintaining an average profile to avoid attracting attention to the families under their care. They don’t recognize the psychological toll of erasing an authentic identity and replacing it with demographic averages. In creating the Trevor family persona, they assign roles to each family member that will keep them out of the spotlight but may reduce them to statistics.
All that matters is that the Trevors look the part of an average American family living in an average American community. The parents have average jobs, and the children attend an average school. Any characteristic that might be distinct is suppressed. Jackson is the quickest to recognize and rebel against this suppression of individuality. Although Charlotte doesn’t rebel against her assigned persona, she’s pleased to demonstrate her deft hands when Jonathan gives her permission to be herself during a basketball game. Fortunately, the superficial erasure of uniqueness mandated by the US marshals doesn’t succeed in suppressing the true family hiding underneath the false one.
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