64 pages • 2 hours read
Mary Downing HahnClosed for the Season
Mary Downing HahnFiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Assumptions Can Be Harmful
The pervading theme throughout the entirety of the novel is undoubtedly that assumptions can be harmful and often wrong. This theme can be viewed through another lens as well: focusing on appearances, and the external, can often give rise to false assumptions and prejudices. This particular theme can be tracked through numerous instances in the book, spanning simple moments, like when Mrs. Forbes is utterly mortified by her husband’s unwillingness to get dressed up for the DiSilvio’s party. Mrs. Forbes assumes that because the DiSilvios are well-dressed and wealthy, that they are inherently good people. She wishes that Mr. Forbes will dress in a similar manner so that they, too, appear to be as successful and good as the DiSilvios. By the end of the novel it is clear that regardless of paint spattered jeans or fine pressed suits, assumptions of goodness and intention cannot be made based on appearances alone. This theme carries into the larger frameworks of the novel as well, such as in the portrayal of the Phelps family.
Just as the DiSilvios make negative assumptions about the families who are in the lower classes, so does Mrs. Forbes about the Jenkinses, and the Jenkinses about the Phelpses. The DiSilvios, due to their wealth and external facade, are presumed to be upstanding citizens. It is only one of the lower class, Billy Jarmon, who appears to initially be aware of the dual nature that Mr. DiSilvio is concealing. He tells Nina that “Mr. DiSilvio ain’t what most people think. He puts on airs and sponsors soccer teams and donates money to the library and the hospital, but you dig deep enough, you'll find he's got another side altogether” (49). A character’s true nature, then, can only be found if one “dig[s] deep enough” past the superficial layers. This kernel of truth is at the core of the theme of harmful assumptions in this book. The Forbeses and the Jenkinses are no less guilty of making assumptions of those who may be less fortunate than them. Does this in some way lead to a type of self-fulfilling prophecy? Does being born in a particular family seem to guarantee one’s destiny? These are some of the questions that Hahn raises through the theme of false assumptions in Closed for the Season.
The Cycle of Bullying
As mentioned previously, bullying takes myriad different forms in the novel. Simply put, there appears to be a spectrum of bullying, from the physical to the verbal. The children are a microcosm of the larger world around them, putting into play larger social dynamics of the world and adults. This results in an hierarchy which places the wealthy at the very top and the poor at the very bottom; wealth is tied to education and opportunity in this book, as in real life.
The diction of many of the less fortunate characters, including Billy Jarmon, Silas Phelps, and Danny Phelps, is considerably different from those around them, once more exemplifying the rigid social stratification in Bealesville. Billy, for example, almost seems to speak with an accent, and often does not understand the words that Arthur uses. Hahn makes the social hierarchy in Bealesville evident to the reader through not only the characters’ speech patterns, but also through the appearance of their clothes and homes. The cycle of bullying and abuse moves through the social ladder, with each level and layer victimizing the other.
The cycle of abuse is clearer and more easily tracked throughout the book. Danny and his friends yanking at Logan and Arthur’s bikes, for example, is one such clear instance of physical bullying. Similarly, Silas’s abuse of Violet and Danny also displays how the strong often take advantage of and seek to silence those who appear weaker than them.
This physical aspect of bullying is self-evident, but verbal abuse plays a role as well. An example of the upper class verbally abusing those beneath them can be seen numerous times in the novel. For example, Rhoda discourages Logan from being friends with Arthur because the Jenkinses are poor. She warns him that if he remains close to the Jenkinses that people will assume that he is just like them. This is an attempt to bully Logan into abiding by what Mrs. Forbes feels is the family’s proper position in the middle of the hierarchy. Anthony likewise reflects his mother’s attitude when his similarly wealthy friend makes fun of Arthur and tells Logan, “Teachers can’t afford to live out here. Not on their salaries” (103). The boys are trying to bait Logan into an argument, but he does not rise to it. “They knew they were my superiors,” Logan thinks of the boys, “what was the use of trying to talk to them?” (103). Nina and Mrs. Forbes likewise discourage Logan from being friends with Arthur, while the Jenkinses continuously speak of the negative traits they believe to be innate to the Phelpses, Jarmons, and O’Neils.
The Portrayal of Women
There are not many female characters in Hahn’s Closed for the Season, and those that are present are represented in a curious way. The primary female characters in the book are Mrs. Forbes, Mrs. Jenkins, Nina, Violet, and Rhoda. A few other side characters include the librarians and the girl at the end of the novel that Logan finds cute. The only female character with a mild story arc is Nina, who is revealed as an undercover cop. Still, this adult is objectified by twelve and thirteen year old boys, and needs their help to solve the mystery central to the novel.
Hahn portrays misogyny in the novel primarily through the character of Silas Phelps. Silas calls Violet a “stupid female” and insists that as his wife she should “do what [he] say[s], when [he] say[s] it” (144). She is a whimpering character, and while the reader has empathy for her, she is yet another damsel in distress. Female characters who don’t fall into the “damsel” role are portrayed as domineering gorgons, and no female character is terribly intelligent.
The portrayal of women in Closed for the Season leaves something lacking, and taps into gendered stereotypes about women being more superficial than men, weaker, and more concerned with appearances and social politics. There are strange moments in the text where Logan and his father seem to bond over making fun of Mrs. Forbes. In addition to gender, the book also falls into political stereotyping: the liberal Mr. Forbes is heroic, while the more conservative characters are the greedy perpetrators of crime.
The most evident of these instances is after the family leaves the DiSilvio’s party. “To Mom's annoyance,” Logan thinks, “we both laughed. It was a guy moment, a bonding thing, and I was happy when Dad reached back to tousle my hair” (120). This “guy moment” of bonding is defined by Mrs. Forbes’s exclusion and their distaste for the superficial that is oddly translated to a gendered trait. Instead of bonding over their hatred of the party, their dislike for it becomes something inherently masculine.
What, then, can the reader surmise must be the opposing feminine trait? Mrs. Forbes is easily swayed by appearances and Nina, who is a detective, is as well. At the exact same party, Nina tells Logan that Arthur’s “not really your type, Logan” (113). On the other side of the spectrum, Mrs. Jenkins appears equally wrapped up in rumors, albeit in a slightly different way. Instead of focusing on appearances, Mrs. Jenkins is drawing her broad assumptions of people based on their families and last names. These three women are certainly not the antagonists of the novel, but are repeatedly painted in a bad light, most often by each other.
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