The Sweet Hereafter

In the first chapter, which Dolores Driscoll narrates, she describes what separates children from adults. She has been in a unique position, as the bus driver, to observe the children of Sam Dent and how they interact with each other. Although the children are copying the adults around them—practicing at speaking in the way that adults do—they also can explore and experiment in an open, freemanner. Dolores says that, between children, there is no serious fear of hurt or injury, as is the case with adults. Later, Dolores will observe that children have a special kind of value and meaning and that a town that loses its children “comes undone.” It is as if the entire town experiences a loss of innocence when the accident occurred.

Nichole Burnell’s chapter also explores the theme of the loss of innocence. Nichole has, in many ways, already lost her innocence because of her father’s abuse. But she only begins to reckon with that abuse, take control of her life, and start to think like an adult after the accident. This is Nichole’s transition from child to adult. Prior to the accident, she was largely thoughtless. Beautiful and popular, she had no deeper self.