55 pages • 1 hour read
Graham GardnerInventing Elliot
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Overriding Power of Fear.
The book opens with fear—“Elliot Sutton swallows the sick, sour fear that threatened to engulf him” (1)—and ends with fear—“I’m afraid, but I’m still going through with it” (181)—with no break in between. Fear, to varying degrees, is what guides each character along their path. For Elliot and Ben, who have suffered terrible abuse and humiliation, fear is at the forefront of everything: fear of being targeted again, fear of rejection, and fear of the future.
When Elliot tries to hide who he really is by inventing a new personality, his angst takes on a different form: the fear of being found out. This fear is equally destructive, keeping him constantly on edge and suspicious. For example, when Mrs. Davidson tries to help him, he assumes she knows his secret because she used the word “mask.” His reaction is visceral, and he is unable to pull back from his anxiety and accept her help. Elliot’s overriding fear works to isolate him when he jumps to the conclusion that Ben has set him up:
Panic gripped Elliot, crushing his chest. This is a trap. I’ve been set up. Wild ideas churned: Ben was a Guardian, or he was a Watcher, or he’d found out about Elliot and was going to blackmail him (132).
These fear-driven thoughts result in Elliot’s cruel rejection of his only friend, Ben. The different types of fear compound each other; one does not replace the other. Elliot is still terrified of being a victim, even when he is a Guardian. He still has nightmares about his prior abuse and can’t help but identify with the new victims. In this way, actions driven from insecurity and fear cannot produce good results; they simply produce a smaller, unhappy way of being.
The Guardians, who seem immune to any type of negative emotion, are built entirely on fear, even within their ranks. Richard’s sidekicks, Cameron and Gareth, are bound by fear to do what they are told, as is Oliver, the underling. Being rejected from the Guardians would put them in an unthinkable position. With this, their power is an illusion: It can be lost at any time. Richard, who holds all the power, is driven by an intense fear of becoming like his father and will do and believe anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. The general anxieties and Insecurities that plague everyone are touched on through characters such as Louise and Mrs. Davidson. Louise is worried that Elliot will paint her in a bad light, and Mrs. Davidson confesses that she, like everyone else, puts on her “personal armor” (126) every day.
The physiological effect of fear is palpable throughout the book, with Gardner using visceral imagery to describe it, such as “sick feeling,” “palms greasy with fear” (34), “stomach-cramping dread” (34), “coldness in his chest” (60), “shaking, [..] whole body trembling violently, […] chest heaving” (76). By painting vivid, embodied descriptions of fear, Gardner allows the reader to access Elliot’s feelings, making us understand the motivation behind Elliot’s worse actions.
Ultimately it is the acceptance and recognition of the power of fear that allows Elliot to make the correct choice and tell the truth to the principal. He concludes that “what was important, what mattered, was not the fact of being afraid, but what you did, the choices you made, when you were afraid” (181). In short, there are two choices: Let fear kill you inside, or embrace fear and stand up for what you believe in.
Lying in Order to Fit In and Its Unintended Consequences
The theme of becoming someone else—lying in order to fit in—runs throughout the book. Elliot is committed to recreating himself because, from his perspective, being himself resulted in horrific abuse. Initially, the plan works well: He is no longer a target and is starting to enjoy school with his new self-confidence. He follows his self-imposed script perfectly, to be “noticed in the right way” (33). But the lies work too well, with the devastating unintended consequence that his new, “cool” personality is noticed by the Guardians.
To survive, Elliot has to step up his pretense and hide his true feelings. “There isn’t a reason. Not a good one” (64) old Elliot thinks about bullying, but he lies and comes up with a list of “good” reasons to please Richard. Elliot tries to compartmentalize his different personalities, to keep his old, true self alive when he is at home or with Louise and Ben, but the lies he tells himself to justify what he is doing with the Guardians eat away at him. He lies to himself, saying that he’ll get used to it, and he justifies unjustifiable behavior to himself, such as turning on Ben: “He was a risk. Always a risk. You’re better off without him” (138).
Elliot lies to his mother, Richard, Louise, and Ben, but mostly he ends up lying to himself. Elliot thinks he understands the situation he is in—that he is “acting in order to survive” (103)—but he is wrong; eventually, he cannot differentiate which Elliot is truly himself and which is a mask. Ultimately, Elliot realizes that the lie is unsustainable and that he will be destroyed if he continues to allow his “act” to become his reality. Elliot’s story is an extreme example of what Mrs. Davidson explains to Elliot; that everyone adopts a slightly different personality depending on the situation they are in.
Standing Up for What You Believe In
All of the main characters stand up for what they believe in, even if it takes longer for some to get to there. The theme of staying true to yourself is introduced early in the narrative. Elliot’s mother is the first character to demonstrate true commitment. She believes in her husband’s ability to start his own company and fully supports him, even when things get hard. After Elliot’s father is attacked and left badly disabled, she doesn’t give up on him and does everything in her power to make family life work for both him and Elliot. Elliot’s mother initially believes they can keep a semblance of their old life—sitting with Elliot drinking hot chocolate in the evenings, for example—but when this fails she still doesn’t give up. She finds a new home in a different town—“a place where they could all make a new beginning” (23)—and persists in her unwavering support of both Elliot and his father. This unconditional love helps inspire Elliot to do the right thing and stand in his own truth at the end of the book.
Elliot believes he is standing up for what he believes in when he makes the decision to reinvent himself. At this point, Elliot believes that life is not predetermined and that he is not destined to always be a victim. He believes that all he needs to do is to change into someone else and believes at first that he can accomplish this just by laying low. However, the path he follows is a slippery slope, as he gets noticed by the Guardians and gives up all of his ideals and moral beliefs: the fabric of himself. For example, he loses his ability to be the son that his mother needs, the one who cares about her and worries for her health when she takes on another shift, and he also begins to bully Ben when he feels his mask is being threatened. In becoming someone else, Elliot no longer stands up for what he really believes; he becomes someone who tries to believe in what Richard tells him. This is an important contrast to the characters who never waver, as we see the detrimental effects of betraying your own beliefs for a false sense of security. Elliot does not end up safe; rather, he ends up completely numb. The book’s ending, with Elliot on the cusp of revealing the truth to the principal about the Guardians, implies that Elliot will finally feel secure when he stands up for his beliefs and is true to himself.
Elliot’s coping mechanism contrasts sharply with Ben, who never wavers in what he wants to do or be. Despite being brutally mocked by his father, Ben continues to pursue his love of photography and swimming. Ben never pretends to be someone else and, somewhat sadly, has accepted that his life at school is going to be brutal. Elliot’s only other friend, Louise also stands up for what she believes in, not pandering to the other girls “catty gossip” and sticking to what she loves—reading—even if it makes her a loner. She doesn’t give into Elliot’s half-hearted attempts at taking their relationship further, even though she worries that he might ruin her reputation. Richard, arrogant and self-centered by nature, never questions his beliefs; introspection is not part of his emotional skill set. Eventually, Elliot, with his mother’s unwavering support, is able to realize that being true to yourself and standing up for what you honestly believe in is the only way to truly live.
