Ruby Holler

“If Florida had been older, she might have felt that Mr. Hopper was right, and that she was lucky to be away from the Hoppers. But she wasn’t older. She was five, and what she felt was that she and Dallas had been very bad and they would never be in a real family.”

Florida and Dallas have been labeled “trouble” so frequently that they come to regard misbehaving as inherent to their nature. The narrative makes it clear, however, that much of their behavior is either provoked by other children or in retaliation for abuse at the hands of foster parents. The Moreys will treat the twins with kindness and rid them of the notion that they are trouble.

“Later, as Florida lay in bed listening to the wail of the freight train passing through Boxton, she thought about the old lunatics and about going down a river in a boat. She wanted to be in that boat on that river, but she wanted to be there with Dallas, not with the old man. She hated the thought of being separated from Dallas. She felt that the only reason they’d survived this long without turning into cowardly wimps or juvenile delinquents was because they’d had each other.”

This quote speaks to a key theme, The Fear of Separation. Not only do they share a special bond because they are twins, but both Florida and Dallas have also suffered the same abuse and mistreatment. They feel they can only truly trust each other. Like Tiller and Sairy, however, the twins find as the novel progresses that they are able to spend time apart from one another in a manner that does not weaken their bond.

“That night, Dallas fell asleep quickly and was dreaming about his favorite place: a sandy patch of earth beneath a leafy tree, with a curtain of branches dipping down all around him. It was not a place he’d ever seen, except in his dreams.

‘Dallas,’ Florida called, waking him. ‘Don’t you get too comfy. Tomorrow is probably when we find out the yuck part of this.’”

The twins—having been endlessly disappointed by foster families in the past—are skeptical that Ruby Holler will be an enjoyable place. Though it seems so on the surface, Florida, especially, is driven by her pessimistic nature, certain such goodness cannot last. By the end of the novel, it will become clear that Ruby Holler is indeed the wonderful place Dallas dreamed of in this quote, showing the significance of signs and