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* [[Break the Cutie]]: Lyric and Summer both go through this. {{Spoiler|Summer doesn't get better}}.
 
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Lyric and Summer both go through this. {{Spoiler|Summer doesn't get better}}.
 
* [[But Not Too Black]]: Lyric's friend Yolanda's mother was a half-black woman, and Yolanda herself is of Mexican descent.
 
* [[But Not Too Black]]: Lyric's friend Yolanda's mother was a half-black woman, and Yolanda herself is of Mexican descent.
  +
* [[Call Back]]: {{Spoiler|At the end of the book, Lyric and her friends go to a street festival where Lyric tells a boy asking for her number "I know you just wanna break my heart, cutie pie"...the exact line Summer had given a boy at another festival near the beginning of the story}}.
 
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Even before the diagnosis Summer had always been a bit off. Lyric didn't think anything of it.
 
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Even before the diagnosis Summer had always been a bit off. Lyric didn't think anything of it.
 
* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Summer was this to Lyric before her mental illness really kicked in.
 
* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Summer was this to Lyric before her mental illness really kicked in.
  +
* [[Cool Teacher]]: Lyric's teachers are incredibly kind to her from the beginning, including her gym teacher letting her assist him until she can afford to buy a gym suit.
 
* [[Death by Newbery Medal]]: In a sense. {{Spoiler|Summer herself doesn't die, but the girl she used to be is as good as gone}}.
 
* [[Death by Newbery Medal]]: In a sense. {{Spoiler|Summer herself doesn't die, but the girl she used to be is as good as gone}}.
 
* [[Downer Ending]]: {{Spoiler|Summer ends up sent to the mental asylum, where the doctor tells Lyric and their father that she'll never return to her old self}}.
 
* [[Downer Ending]]: {{Spoiler|Summer ends up sent to the mental asylum, where the doctor tells Lyric and their father that she'll never return to her old self}}.
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* [[Funny Schizophrenia]]: Defied. Summer's degeneration and symptoms are portrayed as the horrifying things they are, and not once is her disorder referred to as having a split personality.
 
* [[Funny Schizophrenia]]: Defied. Summer's degeneration and symptoms are portrayed as the horrifying things they are, and not once is her disorder referred to as having a split personality.
 
* [[Growing Up Sucks]]
 
* [[Growing Up Sucks]]
  +
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Summer and Lyric's grandfather was a coal miner who sacrificed his own life during a cave-in, to make sure everyone else got out safe and sound.
 
* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Summer's beauty fades as her mental illness takes a toll on her overall health. She even points this out during an outing with Lyric.
 
* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Summer's beauty fades as her mental illness takes a toll on her overall health. She even points this out during an outing with Lyric.
 
* [[Imaginary Friend]]: Summer claims her and Lyric's deceased mother is in the kitchen with them, as is their grandfather's ghost, and that she's talking to them about how wrong it is for Claude to be dating.
 
* [[Imaginary Friend]]: Summer claims her and Lyric's deceased mother is in the kitchen with them, as is their grandfather's ghost, and that she's talking to them about how wrong it is for Claude to be dating.
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* [[Talkative Loon]]: Summer, during the periods where she hasn't shut down and withdrawn from life.
 
* [[Talkative Loon]]: Summer, during the periods where she hasn't shut down and withdrawn from life.
 
* [[Took a Level In Jerkass|Took a Level in Jerkass]]: Summer's mental illness causes her to be grouchy and say nasty things to Lyric and Claude late in the story.
 
* [[Took a Level In Jerkass|Took a Level in Jerkass]]: Summer's mental illness causes her to be grouchy and say nasty things to Lyric and Claude late in the story.
  +
* [[True Companions]]: Lyric's friends Gladys, Nadine, Yolanda, and Michael become this to her over time.
 
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Summer is beyond terrified of dogs, even calling them "wolves" and thinking they want to attack her. She's also afraid of electricity due to having been shocked twice as a child, and refuses to turn on the light switch or the family's new TV set herself.[[Category:{{BASEPAGENAME}}]]
 
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Summer is beyond terrified of dogs, even calling them "wolves" and thinking they want to attack her. She's also afraid of electricity due to having been shocked twice as a child, and refuses to turn on the light switch or the family's new TV set herself.[[Category:{{BASEPAGENAME}}]]
 
{{reflist}}
 
{{reflist}}

Revision as of 23:14, 12 October 2019

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Memories of Summer is a semi-autobiographical work of fiction written by Ruth White. Sisters Lyric and Summer are delighted when their father announces they'll be moving from their small Virginia town to Flint, Michigan. But shortly after they've settled in Summer begins to act strangely and only gets worse as time goes on. Lyric just wants to enjoy her new life, but the increasing worry about her sister and the need to take care of her begins to take its toll and eventually, a difficult choice must be made.

Memories of Summer contains examples of:
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Summer becomes one to a soldier named Bill, constantly flirting with him and even trying to get him to take her on a date. Because Summer is only 16 and Bill is an adult, he's quite unnerved by this.
    • Subverted with Summer's admirer Anderson Biddle. She lets him take her out on dates and flirt with her because she enjoys the attention, but she doesn't love him and isn't too keen on the idea of marrying him like he wants her to.
  • Adult Fear: Summer runs away and goes missing during an outing with Lyric, and Claude is terrified. Not only is he afraid of what could happen to a teenage girl in a big city, but by this point Summer's mental state is really deteriorating.
    • Just the last portion of the book in general as Claude watches Summer become more and more unhinged and dangerous, to the point where it's not safe for Lyric to be around her anymore. He's forced to institutionalize her when she hits Lyric in the head with a coffee mug and makes her bleed.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Lyric's friend Yolanda talks about this trope, and about how her chickens back home used to gang up on a pretty white one. "They peck ya to death if you're different." Lyric later sees this for herself when Summer comes to see her audition, and is heckled and jeered at for her unkempt appearance and behaviors.
  • And I Must Scream: Summer is aware that she's slipping further and further into her madness. At one point she looks in a mirror and says "see, Lyric? I'm fading."
  • Bedlam House: Averted, the mental asylum Lyric and her father take Summer to is well-ordered and calm.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Summer used to protect Lyric from bullies back in Glory Bottom. This is addressed during a subversion of the trope when Summer shows up to watch Lyric's audition for the school musical and gets heckled for her condition. Lyric shoves aside the loudest heckler and rushes to her sister's side.
  • Break the Cutie: Lyric and Summer both go through this. Summer doesn't get better.
  • But Not Too Black: Lyric's friend Yolanda's mother was a half-black woman, and Yolanda herself is of Mexican descent.
  • Call Back: At the end of the book, Lyric and her friends go to a street festival where Lyric tells a boy asking for her number "I know you just wanna break my heart, cutie pie"...the exact line Summer had given a boy at another festival near the beginning of the story.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Even before the diagnosis Summer had always been a bit off. Lyric didn't think anything of it.
  • Cool Big Sis: Summer was this to Lyric before her mental illness really kicked in.
  • Cool Teacher: Lyric's teachers are incredibly kind to her from the beginning, including her gym teacher letting her assist him until she can afford to buy a gym suit.
  • Death by Newbery Medal: In a sense. Summer herself doesn't die, but the girl she used to be is as good as gone.
  • Downer Ending: Summer ends up sent to the mental asylum, where the doctor tells Lyric and their father that she'll never return to her old self.
  • The Dutiful Daughter: Lyric
  • Eye Scream: Summer ends up scratching herself in the eye during a fit of insanity, blaming it on the "wolves".
  • The ’50s
  • Full-Name Basis: Anderson Biddle at the beginning of the story, due to this being how one addresses "town folks" in Glory Bottom.
  • Funny Schizophrenia: Defied. Summer's degeneration and symptoms are portrayed as the horrifying things they are, and not once is her disorder referred to as having a split personality.
  • Growing Up Sucks
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Summer and Lyric's grandfather was a coal miner who sacrificed his own life during a cave-in, to make sure everyone else got out safe and sound.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Summer's beauty fades as her mental illness takes a toll on her overall health. She even points this out during an outing with Lyric.
  • Imaginary Friend: Summer claims her and Lyric's deceased mother is in the kitchen with them, as is their grandfather's ghost, and that she's talking to them about how wrong it is for Claude to be dating.
  • Insane Equals Violent: Subverted. Lyric and Claude are surprised when Summer starts hitting people and attacks Lyric, because they hadn't expected it considering Summer's symptoms were passive and verbal (paranoia, hiding, withdrawing from life, muttering nonsense, talking to imaginary people).
  • Madwoman in the Attic: The way mentally ill people were treated in Glory Bottom. Lyric fears she's letting Summer become this to her, and feels horribly guilty about it.
  • Meaningful Name: Invoked by the girls' mother, who insisted her children would have no "common names".
  • Missing Mom: The girls' mother died when they were young children.
  • Naïve Newcomer: Lyric when the family first arrives in the big city.
  • The Ophelia: Summer has shades of this before her lack of self-care and self-mutilation make her look more grotesque. At one point, she even sits on a swing in the backyard, barefoot and in her nightgown while singing.
  • Parent with New Paramour: Claude, the girls' father, begins dating the manager of the general store. Lyric is happy for him, but Summer throws a fit.
  • Parental Marriage Veto: Anderson Biddle talks about wanting to marry Summer, but Claude won't have it. Summer doesn't seem too cut up about it, though.
  • Promotion to Parent: Subverted, it's younger sister Lyric who ends up doing most of the cooking and housework and looking after Summer. The trope ends up being deconstructed by Lyric's increasing worries and stress and culminates in Summer becoming so violent they have no choice but to put her away.
  • Talkative Loon: Summer, during the periods where she hasn't shut down and withdrawn from life.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Summer's mental illness causes her to be grouchy and say nasty things to Lyric and Claude late in the story.
  • True Companions: Lyric's friends Gladys, Nadine, Yolanda, and Michael become this to her over time.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Summer is beyond terrified of dogs, even calling them "wolves" and thinking they want to attack her. She's also afraid of electricity due to having been shocked twice as a child, and refuses to turn on the light switch or the family's new TV set herself.