Sunny Side Up

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-14

Chapters 15-21

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Literary Context: Middle-Grades Graphic Narratives

In recent decades, graphic narratives—whether novels, short stories, or memoirs—have become a respected part of the literary landscape. One of the first graphic narratives to be appreciated as literature was Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning Holocaust story Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, which appeared in serialized form from 1980 to 1991 and was published as two collections in 1986 and 1991. Although superhero comics and lighthearted stories told in visual form had long been a part of popular culture, books like Maus proved that graphic narratives can also be a valid medium for telling nuanced, layered stories that are just as emotionally and intellectually powerful as any other genre.

The visuals contained in graphic narratives are often designed to appeal to younger readers by enhancing their understanding of a story’s atmosphere, tone, characterizations, plot, and themes. Although many graphic narratives intended for young readers are lighthearted and comical, an increasing number deal with sophisticated topics and complex social issues. Sunny Side Up is a prime example, for it tells the story of a soon-to-be middle-schooler whose family is seriously impacted by her older brother’s substance use disorder. The narrative provides a frank portrayal of Sunny’s resulting isolation, disappointment, sadness, and anger. During the course of the novel, Sunny also confronts her grandfather about his smoking and rescues an elderly woman whose dementia causes her to wander and become lost. The story’s visuals are used to soften the impact of these serious subjects, creating an atmosphere of cheerful calm to imply that Sunny and her family will be able to solve their problems. Other middle-grades graphic narratives that feature sensitive portrayals of emotionally complex topics include Cece Bell’s El Deafo, Jen Wang’s Stargazing, Morten Dür and Lars Horneman’s Zenobia, Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson’s When Stars are Scattered, Jerry Craft’s New Kid and Class Act, J. Torres and David Namisato’s Stealing Home, Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, Damian Alexander’s Other Boys, and Malaka Gharib’s I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir.

Cultural Context: American Suburbia in the 1970s

Sunny Side Up takes place in the 1970s in two different suburban settings: the outskirts of Philadelphia near Valley Forge and a retirement community near Vero Beach, Florida. The rise of American suburbs accelerated after World War II, and by the 1970s, suburban life had become a symbol of middle-class success. A new vision of success had also become entrenched in American culture; the dominant image of “success” involved having a “nuclear family”—one that was typically headed by a married man and woman who had two or three children and lived in a detached suburban house with a private yard. Dominant gender roles of the time frame dictated that the woman would run the household and raise the children while the man would leave the home each weekday to earn a comfortable salary. This oversimplified and idealized version of suburban life was assumed to offer many amenities such as golf courses, public and private pools, shopping malls, and restaurants. Because the suburbs were believed to be inherently safe places, children were generally allowed to roam around their local areas, unsupervised by adults. They also had a considerable amount of physical freedom. On the other hand, children were also expected to be unfailingly polite to adults and to obey their elders without question.

By the 1970s, many young Americans had become disenchanted with this narrow-minded ideal, so they formed a counterculture that rejected materialism and rigidly defined gender roles, as well as other mainstream social conventions. Many called themselves “hippies” and embraced drug culture, unconventional living arrangements, and alternative forms of politics, economics, music, and fashion. In Sunny Side Up, the Lewins are a conventional suburban family of the time, although Sunny does say that her mother “likes hippies,” which is how the protagonist comes to be named “Sunny, like Sunshine” (62). Each night, Sunny’s family sits down together to eat a dinner prepared by Sunny’s mother, and the Lewins clearly expect their children to follow their rules and abide by their decisions. Dale’s long hair, rule-breaking, drug use, and clothing choices are all signifiers that he has embraced the counterculture of the era and is rebelling against the conventions typical of suburban youth during this time period. His parents’ strong reaction to his drug use and lifestyle underscores their conventionality and the value that they place on the 1970s suburban ideal of “success.”