The 57 Bus Sparknotes

There are many restrictions in society that bind us to certain categories. Whether it be male vs female, rich vs poor, good vs bad, or child vs adult, these categories determine who we are. The 57 Bus is a book about breaking free from these restrictions. Sasha, a white teen living in the better parts of Oakland, is trying to figure out their gender and who they are in the world. Richard, a black teen living in the parts of Oakland more ridden by violence, has completely different circumstances, trying to figure out the spectrum of good and bad and where he belongs on it. Sasha and Richard had never crossed paths, until one day on the 57 Bus when Richard lit Sasha’s skirt on fire “as a prank”. The book follows them in the aftermath as they

Sasha is figuring out who they are and becoming more comfortable with it. Richard, on the other hand, is even more polarized than he was at the beginning of the book, being forced into a single category. Sasha is now regularly wearing a skirt publically, when Slater accounts, “One day at a bus stop an older woman approached Sasha. ‘Why are you wearing a skirt?’ she demanded. ‘You’re not a girl!” ‘I’m wearing a skirt because I like wearing skirts,’ Sasha replied,” (Slater 45). Sasha is comfortable enough to be confident in wearing skirts, despite the backlash they receive from others. They understand that they don’t fit in either category of gender, and they are starting to show that publically. Slater includes this scene of the skirt to demonstrate their refusal to fit in one of the binaries, even though that’s what’s publicly accepted. They are now wearing the skirt, not only because it’s comfortable but also because they feel that it’s fitting for them. Sasha is showing growth in their comfort of breaking through binaries and is slowly beginning to really discover themself. Richard is not in the same situation. Once again, Slater uses the motif of binaries through Richard, as he is accused of committing a hate crime after he lit Sasha’s skirt on fire. Richard writes in a letter to Sasha, “I am being charged with great bodily injury and a hate crime. I accept the first charge but the hate crime is wrong. I don’t have a problem with homosexual’s I have friends that’s homosexuals and we never had problems so I don’t look at wrong because of your sexualitie” (Slater 185). He’s being prosecuted for a hate crime despite insisting that Sasha’s gender had nothing to do with it and that he did it as a joke. This prosecution will up his charges and cause him to be in jail even longer than he would be originally. Although the crime he committed was horrible and should