61 pages • 2 hours read
Joyce McdonaldSwallowing Stones
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Socio-Historical Context: Gun Culture in the United States
Swallowing Stones’s main conflict comes from the mishandling of a firearm by a teenage boy. The novel’s willingness to engage with themes of responsible gun ownership—even though it does not dwell heavily on this aspect—gives the novel a political charge that only grows stronger as the cultural climate surrounding gun ownership in the United States becomes more tumultuous and turbulent.
Part of what makes guns such a significant cultural icon to Americans is the historical context of the founding of the United States. During the Revolutionary War, groups of colonists assembled into militias to fight for freedom from British rule. These colonists had access to rifles and muskets, which aided in their eventual victory over the British soldiers. Guns were so significantly tied to the idea of freedom in Revolutionary America that the Founding Fathers wrote every American’s right to bear arms into the second amendment of the Bill of Rights. Since America’s inception, guns have been a means of protecting and ensuring freedom.
In Swallowing Stones, it’s no coincidence that it’s July 4, America’s Independence Day, when Michael fires his Winchester rifle into the air, deploying the bullet that moments later comes down to kill Charlie Ward. Despite the classification as criminally negligent or criminally reckless in most of the United States, it is a common and deadly trend for Americans to celebrate their freedom by firing guns into the air on Independence Day. One of the primary conflicts Michael faces when he deploys his weapon illegally is the potential loss of his freedom. Michael knows he’ll likely go to prison for the murder of Charlie Ward, and he’s haunted by his celebratory gunfire on July 4. The contrast between guns as a representation of freedom and Michael’s gun as a representation of the loss of his freedom creates irony that invites the reader to consider the gravity of gun ownership and its place in American society.
Cultural Context: Teen Media of the Late ’90s
Swallowing Stones was written and published in the mid to late 1990s, and the interpersonal relationships between the teenage main characters reflect the culture of teenagers and teenage-geared media of this period. The late ’90s saw the continuation of a growing culture of teen-oriented media. Movies like She’s All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Cruel Intentions all feature a teenage cast of characters, high school parties, and bets or wagers that impact how someone, usually an outcast or person with a bad reputation, is treated by the others. Swallowing Stones, as a young adult book featuring teenage main characters, adheres to many of the hallmarks of ’90s teen media.
90s teen movies like She’s All That and 10 Things I Hate About You feature an outcast teen girl lead who is often the target of cruel bets, pranks, or manipulation by the lead boy, often a popular upperclassman. In Swallowing Stones, Amy Ruggerio fulfills the outcast teen girl role, while protagonist Michael MacKenzie takes the role of the lead boy who unintentionally falls for the outcast girl. The dynamic between Michael and Amy is such a common trope in teen movies that Swallowing Stones subverts this dynamic in some ways. For example, rather than Amy finding out about a real bet that Michael has with his friends, the gulf between Amy and Michael opens when Michael’s ex-girlfriend Darcy lies to Amy about a bet when there isn’t one. Amy and Michael follow the same trajectory as their contemporary couples after this, only reuniting at the end when the water has been cleared. However, due to the serious nature of Michael’s own conflict, their relationship is not explored further.
Parties are a significant plot device for teen-centric media, and in ’90s teen movies, parties serve as a reason to assemble the main characters in the same place. Swallowing Stones utilizes parties in a similar way. Most significantly, the final party of the novel brings together the four main characters, allowing Jenna to gather important information about the links between Joe, Michael, and Amy. Parties also provide an excuse for characters who don’t interact to cross paths. Jenna speaks to Michael for the first time at a party on behalf of her friend Andrea. The interactions that a party setting enables make parties an important device in teen-centric media, especially in the late ’90s, prior to the internet providing a new way to assemble people socially.
