Rules of the Road

One of the major themes of the book is speaking the truth—both telling and accepting the truth however hard and hurtful it may be. All the main characters are wrestling with some degree of truth suppression, and in each case, this causes pain and perpetuates a damaging emotional cycle. Jenna often lies to Faith to shield her from their father’s alcohol addiction. For example, when Faith asks Jenna “Did he mention me? […] What did he say?” (16), Jenna lies and says “Yeah. Of course. […] He misses you and wishes he could have come around more and wonders how you’re doing” (17). This is a lie; their father never asks about Faith, but Jenna sees protecting her sister from being hurt in this way as “a responsibility that comes with being a big sister” (17). Jenna has decided Faith is not “missing much” (18) by not being involved. However, these lies are excluding Faith and not allowing her to make her own decisions about her relationship with her father. Far from being helpful, the reader senses that Faith knows she is being lied to, which only makes a bad situation worse. When Jenna is away, Faith gets a chance to deal with her father, and while there is no magical breakthrough it does allow Faith to see the whole picture and makes her appreciate Jenna more.