60 pages • 2 hours read
Chrystal D. GilesNot an Easy Win
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2023A 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
Chess
Content Warning: This section discusses racism.
One important motif throughout the novel is chess. As the game becomes a central part of Lawrence’s identity, it allows him to have a better understanding of life and his choices as he matures. When Mr. Dennis begins to teach Lawrence how to play chess, the first thing he does is ask him how many pieces are on the board. Lawrence considers the question and confidently answers that there are 16—forgetting to count his opponent’s pieces. Later, after Lawrence confronts Deuce about his earbuds and ends up pushing him, Twyla helps him see that Deuce was just trying to goad Lawrence into fighting. Lawrence then remembers, “Mr. Dennis’s trick question about the chess pieces on both sides of the board. I knew Deuce wasn’t feeling me—if I’d been paying attention to the whole picture, I could’ve seen he was pushing to fight me. I should’ve seen this coming” (88). Lawrence uses Mr. Dennis’s lesson about chess and applies it to his own life, realizing that he needs to understand and consider the motivations of others—just as he needs to understand what his opponents are doing with their chess pieces. This helps him understand Blame Versus Accountability. Later, when Deuce again makes fun of Lawrence, he ignores him, instead using his music to block Deuce out. He recognizes that Deuce “[i]s trying to bait him [but he] [i]s paying attention to the whole board this time. [He] just turn[s] up the volume in [his] ears and block[s] him out” (109). In this way, chess is an important element of Lawrence’s character development, as through learning the game, he also grows and matures.
Additionally, chess serves as an escape for Lawrence, as it gives him something to dedicate his time to and a way to discover a sense of belonging. Through chess, Lawrence learns of The Importance of Friendship as he grows close with Twyla, Lin, Kendra, and Deuce through their Monday chess games and their competitions with each other. Then, at the chess tournament, Lawrence uses chess as a tool to prove that he belongs in that predominantly white space. As he sits down at the board for his first match, he thinks, “I kept my eyes locked on the board and got ready to battle—not with my fists or my words this time, but with my mind instead. Chess is a game for thinkers, and I am a thinker” (227). At the start of the novel, Lawrence is expelled from a predominantly white school for responding to others bullying him by fighting. Then, he watches as Deuce is kicked out of the chess tournament for fighting the kid who taunted him—with the officials not even listening to his story or disciplining the other student. Lawrence realizes that the space he is trying to inhabit through chess—like Andrew Jackson Middle School—is dominated by white, affluent students. However, instead of arguing with the other kids, giving in to their provocations, or fighting them as Deuce did, he uses chess as his weapon to fight back. Through his victory, he proves that he belongs, carving out a space for himself, Twyla, and other Black children like them.
Music
Music is a recurring motif throughout the novel, as Lawrence uses it as a coping mechanism and a way to connect with his father. When he is expelled from school, he walks downtown, sitting on the swing and listening to Pop’s playlist. This act allows him to feel as though he is somewhere else—forgetting about Granny, Ma, and the kids at school. Then, when he starts going to the rec center, he uses music to occupy himself, too nervous to approach the other kids and instead retreating to the comfortable place of his father’s iPod. In this way, music serves as a safe space for Lawrence as he copes with his troubles by blocking them out with music and thinking of memories of his father as he does so.
As Lawrence gets to know Deuce, music also becomes a tool by which the two connect and build their relationship, conveying The Importance of Friendship. After several failed attempts at getting Deuce to talk with him, Lawrence finally uses music, handing Deuce an earbud and inviting him to listen with him. They repeat the process each day, sitting in silence and getting lost in the music instead of facing their problems. Lawrence reflects, “The music took over, and for a little bit it felt like we weren’t in some small town—we didn’t have to worry about school and being in trouble or our parents being away. We just got sucked into the sound” (156). As the two bond over music, they eventually let each other into their lives, confessing their anxieties over their incarcerated parents and leaning on each other. When anxiety overwhelms Lawrence at the chess tournament, Deuce supports him, convincing him to compete and show his strength through the games. Then, when Deuce breaks down after having to see his mother, Lawrence comforts him, convincing him not to let his emotions overwhelm him. Music allows their relationship to grow and continues to be their point of bonding, as the final lines of the text show them sitting together and getting lost in a song.
Stories
Writing stories is an important motif that conveys the theme of Blame Versus Accountability. Stories are one key element of Lawrence’s relationship with his father. As he thinks about Pop at several points in the novel, he remembers the stories that he used to tell. He notes how he “knew most of the stories weren’t true, but [he] didn’t mind” (143); instead, he enjoyed hearing his father talk and sharing parts of his life with Lawrence, real or made up. While these stories are important to Lawrence in that they built the relationship between Lawrence and Pop, they also convey Pop’s penchant for inventing stories about his life. As a result, Lawrence never receives a concrete answer as to where Pop is, where he has been, or even whether he is still in prison. The reality is that even Lawrence’s mother doesn’t know, instead assuring Lawrence that “Pop loves [him] and Nikko more than life” (171). When Lawrence questions this, Ma then explains that “things haven’t gone right for [his] Pop in a long time. And when things are going bad all around you, sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing” (171). Ma reveals that Pop has had bad things happen to him, exacerbated by systemic racism and discriminatory profiling; however, his “stories” also convey his unwillingness to take accountability for his actions.
In contrast to his father, Lawrence decides that he is going to write his own “story.” After he learns to take accountability for his actions, he also realizes that he is more than the sum of those actions. He thinks to himself,
There was definitely more to me than people saw. I’d figured that out too. I was more than the kid who moved around a lot. I was more than the troublemaker who got into fights. I was more than my pop being gone. I didn’t want to be trapped in that history (238).
In other words, Lawrence has allowed those around him to write his story for too long; people like the kids at his old school have dictated his actions, and people like the principal and Granny judge and construct their version of him based on those actions. Now, he vows that he is “still writing [his] story,” as he knows “for sure it w[ill] be [his] to tell” (239). Along with taking accountability, Lawrence also takes back control of his narrative, choosing to write it in a way that shows his strengths, intelligence, and compassion and the friendships he has formed.
