56 pages • 1 hour read
Jennifer NivenHolding Up The Universe
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A 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
Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Libby’s favorite novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle,is a 1962 mystery novel that tells the story of Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, her sister Constance, and her uncle, Julian. The family lives together on an expansive estate haunted by the mysterious deaths of the rest of the Blackwood family. Mary Katherine is the only one who occasionally goes into the village, where she suffers hostility from the townsfolk, who despise the Blackwood family. In the end, Mary Katherine confesses to poisoning the rest of the Blackwoods years ago, and she and Constance resolve to remain in their home in isolation from the community. Libby often compares herself to Mary Katherine because both feel ostracized by their communities—Mary Katherine for her Blackwood heritage and Libby for her weight—but also because both know what it is like to lock themselves away. Thus, Jackson’s novel serves as a motif thathelps emphasize the novel’s theme of seeing. Just like Mary Katherine, who decides that she does not want to be seen by the villagers at all, Libby questions whether and how she wants to be seen by her peers at high school. Niven’s use of We Have Always Lived in the Castle also serves as a critique of the dangers of “staying at home.” Mary Katherine represents the safe option of remaining in the castle, but in making that decision, she solidifies her status as a pariah. She remains separate from society, which Niven argues is both unhealthy and unrealistic. Mary Katherine’s fate contrasts with Libby’s. Libby becomes secure in her identity, ultimately deciding to leave her own “castle,” even though it means the more dangerous option of exposing herself to the criticism of her peers.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Holding Up the Universe includes a number of quotations from To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s classic novel. Originally published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of Atticus Finch, an Alabama lawyer who represents Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Despite Atticus’s defense, Robinson is found guilty, sentenced to prison, and shot when he attempts to escape. The first quotation from the novel appears in Holding Up the Universe’sPrologue: “Atticus, he was real nice […] Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them” (14). Here, Scout Finch—Atticus’s young daughter—refers to Boo Radley, a reclusive neighbor who remains sequestered in his house, therefore, becoming subject to all sorts of local rumors and gossip. However, later in the novel, to Scout’s surprise, the character turns out to be a kind, likable man. Libby continues to think back to this quotation as she follows Atticus’s advice to get to know people, to “try to put ourselves into the skin of other people” (158). The advice helps her remember to look beyond people’s exterior, which often belies the type of person they are on the inside. Therefore, the lessons from To Kill a Mockingbird also speak strongly to Niven’s themes of seeing and identity. Libby especially reminds herself of this advice when interacting with Jack, who externally presents himself as a confident, outgoing young man but who, on a deeper analysis, is “a boy who is burdened by life” (241). Unlike everyone else, Libby “finally see[s]” Jack, which gives him the confidence to open up about his prosopagnosia.
The Greek Myth of Atlas
The novel’s title, Holding Up the Universe, alludes to the Greek myth of Atlas, the titan condemned by the gods to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. Niven uses this symbol to emphasize the novel’s theme of weight—both physical and metaphorical. Niven argues that there are times when people are simply asked to carry too much weight. Libby represents a literal imagining of this; at one point, she was morbidly obese and literally could not move herself around her own home. For Jack, the burden is emotional—he must keep his prosopagnosia a secret, even though he suffers because of it every day.
Throughout the novel, Niven reiterates that recognizing one’s burden is too heavy is not evidence of a person’s failure or weakness but rather a fault of the person’s circumstances. Just as Atlas’s punishment is over-the-top to illustrate the cruel vengefulness of the Olympians, people—and especially teenagers—are often forced to bear heavy mental, social, and emotional burdens. Those who feel themselves crumpling under this weight should not take their struggle as a sign of weakness but rather as a sign of strength. Recognizing one’s limits and asking for help is healthier than trying to struggle alone. Jack learns this lesson by the end of the novel when he decides to reveal his prosopagnosia to his friends and family; Libby learns this lesson more fully when she acknowledges that the loss she feels from her mother’s death is a burden she cannot always lift alone. Ultimately, sharing burdens with friends and family becomes a path to personal growth, and it is how Libby and Jack become the people they truly want to be.
Mirrors and Reflections
Jack and Libby receive a good part of their early characterization through commentary they make when looking at themselves in the mirror, an important symbol that Niven uses to illustrate the novel’s themes of seeing and identity. As she prepares for the first day of school, Libby comments, “Today, for the most part, I only see me—adorable navy dress, sneakers, medium-longish brown hair” (26). From this self-description, readers see Libby as a confident, self-assured young woman in spite of the trauma she suffered years ago. However, it is telling that Libby’s observation comes with a couple of qualifiers, “today” and “for the most part,” suggesting that she does not always see herself in such positive terms. Indeed, it is only a few moments later that Libby starts to second-guess her confidence. She thinks, “My brain goes zooming up the wall, where it hangs, shaking” (27). In this important moment of characterization, readers see that while Libby is mostly secure in her identity, she is not completely immune to moments of self-doubt. In other words, the episode is important to understanding how Libby sees herself, and it gives readers a way to understand how her character grows throughout the story.
Meanwhile, Jack’s reflection reveals that he struggles to see himself on a more literal level: “I think this every time I see my reflection. Not in a Damn, that’s me way, but more like Huh. Okay. What have we got here? I lean in, trying to put the pieces of my face together” (30). In Jack’s case, he literally cannot see himself: his prosopagnosia means that he cannot recognize his own face in the mirror. This scene is important to Jack’s characterization for a couple of reasons: first, it gives readers a glimpse into the severity of his condition as they learn that Jack has this reaction every time he sees his reflection. He is always a stranger to himself. Secondly, and more importantly, it establishes that Jack feels the need to correct something about himself. He speaks of his face as “pieces” to be put together, something to be fixed. To Jack, his face is “broken” like his brain, and throughout the novel, he continues to struggle with the idea that the prosopagnosia represents something that is wrong with him, an imperfection to keep secret in order to safeguard his identity.
