33 pages • 1 hour read
Jessica Day GeorgeTuesdays at the Castle
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Atlas
Early in the book, the reader is introduced to Celie’s pet project of mapping the castle’s floorplan. Her atlas is 300 pages long and still growing. The manuscript demonstrates both Celie’s desire to help the other residents find their way and her own mastery of the castle’s secrets. Rolf tells Celie, “If the Castle was ever going to tell anyone its secrets, I think it would be you” (99).
His comment highlights Celie’s special relationship with the castle, and the atlas is concrete proof that she knows the castle better than anyone ever has. The atlas serves a practical as well as a symbolic purpose. The only reason that Celie overhears Khelsh’s plot to take over the kingdom is because she chooses to work on her atlas while sitting concealed under the throne. When Cook can’t lead the kitchen workers safely out of the castle, Celie gives her a page from the atlas to guide her. Celie also consults the atlas to find safe escape routes for the rest of the castle’s staff. Later, when she and Lilah are hiding from the enemy, Celie carries her atlas everywhere as a reference to help her move about the castle unseen. This also prevents the atlas from falling into the wrong hands.
Midway through the story, Celie fantasizes that finishing the atlas will make everything all right. She believes that once she puts the book into its leather binding, her parents will magically reappear. The atlas does restore her parents, but not in the symbolic way she imagined. Its pages offer a practical road map to guide everyone to safety instead.
The Tower Room
The tower room becomes the base of operations as the siblings conduct their covert war against Khelsh and his allies. It symbolizes Celie’s special connection to Castle Glower since she’s the first to discover the room’s existence. Because the room only appears shortly before the disappearance of the king and queen, its existence demonstrates the castle’s ability to foresee trouble ahead. The castle also knows the specific source of the trouble as demonstrated by the objects that it places in the room: four powerful spyglasses that allow the children to see miles away as well as scope out chambers within the castle, a Vhervhish phrasebook that alerts Celie to Khlesh’s plot, a coil of rope that becomes the princesses’ lifeline when their exit is cut off, and dry biscuits that Celie crumbles and throws into the eyes of one of her pursuers as she tries to flee.
The tower also symbolizes the spiritual health of the castle itself. Once Khelsh enacts his curse and the castle seems to die, the doorway leading into the room disappears, trapping Celie and Lilah inside. Ironically, the room itself has no power to help the siblings. The objects the castle places within the room are only useful if the princesses have the wit to know how to employ them. The novel seems to suggest that the most magical part of the tower room is the royal children who take refuge in it.
Living Conditions
The attitude of the castle toward its various inhabitants can be gauged by the accommodations it provides. Its behavior toward guests symbolizes approval or disapproval, and Khelsh is given the bare minimum. Celie notes:
His room was awful. It was about the size of one of the cells in the dungeon. There was only one plain bed, which looked barely large enough to hold someone Khelsh’s size, a chair, a rickety washstand, and a crooked desk.
By comparison, Lulath’s quarters are opulent and comfortable. Celie interprets this as a sign the castle approves of him and that he can be counted as an ally. Aside from its treatment of guests, the castle also signals the status of its permanent residents by the way their chambers are maintained.
Rolf receives his first clue that his parents are still alive when he finds their rooms unchanged even after they disappear. Likewise, his own chamber hasn’t been transformed into that of a new king. These facts indicate that the castle’s sentience extends far beyond the boundaries of its own walls. This is either because the invisible portion of the castle is so vast or because the castle has telepathic powers along with its many other magical properties. Celie’s room is also affected by the castle attitude toward her. The end of the story indicates how well-pleased Castle Glower is with Celie when it spontaneously decorates the ceiling of her bedroom with twinkling stars as she falls asleep.
