Missing Persons Theme in Monday's Not Coming Literary Analysis Essay

Monday's Not Coming discusses heavy themes. The most prevalent theme in the book is missing persons. I chose this theme because the entire story revolves around Claudia's search for Monday. Another theme expressed throughout the book is gentrification. I settled on this theme because everyone in Monday's housing complex would face eviction. The government wanted to renovate the housing complex for wealthy white people. Because of this, some of Claudia's teachers disregarded her search for Monday as most of them assumed she moved away. But, this reasoning was faulty because Monday's mother and older sister still lived in Ed borough. But Monday's mother lied to Claudia. She told her that Monday and her little brother were with their father. Another theme of Monday's Not Coming is bullying. Before Monday passed, Monday and Claudia's classmates bullied them. Claudia had no other friends, so she spent all her time with Monday. One day, Claudia followed Monday into the bathroom after Monday was humiliated by a boy she liked. Someone went into the bathroom and took a picture of the two in a stall. The person shared the photo with the school. And later, a rumor that the two girls were gay. The rumor would follow Claudia for the rest of the story, even after Monday's death. And Claudia, because of bullying, felt isolated, motivating her search for Monday. The final theme of Monday's Not Coming is friendship. As mentioned above, Monday was Claudia's only friend. Naturally, Claudia became attached to her and borderline dependent on her. Claudia was also one of Monday's only friends. She was an escape from Monday's turbulent home life.

Apart from the theme, the tone of the story is suspenseful. I chose this tone because the author drops hints that Monday may be in danger throughout the text. And the timeline of the story itself brings about mystery and suspense. Most of Claudia's encounters with Monday’s killer (Monday’s mother) are tense. My chosen quote captures the mood that the story sets whenever the tone is suspenseful. Claudia narrates this quote during one of her encounters with Monday’s killer. On my one-pager, I drew a close-up of Claudia's face half-covered by a shower curtain. I drew this because when Claudia narrates my chosen quote, she's hiding in the shower from Ms. Charles. She's hiding from Ms. Charles because, in this chapter, she goes over to Monday's house to find her diary. Her goal is to find out what happened to her. But Claudia was never welcome to Monday's house. So when she is in her bedroom, reading through her diary, she hears Ms. Charles coming up the stairs. So she hides in the bathroom shower, narrowly avoiding Ms. Charles catching her in the house.

Monday is one of the main characters because the entire story revolves around her disappearance. Claudia is another main character because she was the only person actively searching for Monday. On my one-pager, I drew Claudia dancing and Monday doing hair. I drew those two pictures because one of Claudia's main passions is dancing, and Monday was good at doing hair. When she went to school, she always showed up with her hair done. In one scene, Monday shows up at school wearing the same clothes from the day prior, and her hair is a mess. The detail that sticks out to Claudia is that Monday didn't do her hair. This scene is where Claudia realizes that something is wrong with Monday.

Monday's Not Coming is a fictional narrative or story. It follows the typical narrative format (characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution). Events happen one after the other, with a (somewhat) clear timeline and sequence of events. I picked the quote on my one-pager because it comes from a scene with a course of events that are important to the story. On my one-pager, I drew a phone ringing because, during the scene in which Claudia narrates my chosen quote, she tries to call Monday's house phone. But Monday doesn't pick up. This scene is the very first time the author hints at Monday being in danger.

Finally, I connected missing women of color and this book because Monday Charles was a missing girl of color. And even while living in Washington D.C., no one cared about her disappearance. When Claudia went to teachers about it, they did minimal fact-checking. And most of them assumed she moved. When Claudia went to her parents about it, they dismissed her. When Claudia went to the police, they dismissed her as well. No one in Claudia's life took her seriously. No one seemed to care for her missing friend. Unfortunately, this same thing happens in real life. When women of color go missing, their stories get little to no news coverage, minimal investigation by the police, and little attention from their own communities. Recently, the media has finally started to cover the stories of missing indigenous women. Indigenous women make up most murder cases and a considerable number of missing cases. But very few of their cases will be reported on or investigated. On my one-pager, I drew an indigenous woman with a red hand painted onto her mouth. I drew this because, during protests, protestors will have a red hand painted onto their mouth. The red hand on the mouth symbolizes the violence many indigenous women face and the silence surrounding their stories.