Animal torture
When young Sheila begins to torture the class animal, a pet goldfish, the reader must make a kind of value judgment. Is she sociopathic? Is she violent? In reality, her young mind is processing her own torture and mutilation that she suffered at the hands over her uncle. The scene symbolizes an accidental kind of brokenness that damages Sheila's moral performance.
The Messianic teacher
Perhaps something could be said about the author using her own name in this role, but suffice it to say, she casts herself as a Messiah, which might be narcissistic, but probably isn't, because the real life stories that social workers and teachers hear from children about their home life can be truly terrifying. And by accepting Sheila with all her brokenness, she shows her what conditional love looks like, so it is appropriate, because a good teacher really is like a Messiah to many, many students.
Female genital mutilation
The symbolism of female genital mutilation is confusing, especially when the reader considers the age of the victim. The girl is the victim of her uncle's abuse, and when he takes a knife to her privates, there is little she can do to stop him from torturing her. She is only six, and he is a full-grown adult man. So, she suffers literal torture, and the existential significance of the torture is unimaginable, because the abuse is done to a girl who is too young to know anything about sexuality or the true purposes of her body. It is true torture.
The depressed child
This novel features its central character as an archetype. Instead of telling others about her abuse at home, she is not emotionally or mentally capable of even understanding anything about the nature of sexual abuse, so in panic, she becomes secretive. The moral of the story seems to be that, where there is childhood depression, there is trouble in the home. The story also underscores Torey's inability to save the students whom she attempts to help.
The holy confession
Just like the sacrament in Catholic tradition, this novel leads to a holy confession. It is holy because Sheila doesn't understand the context for her struggles, because they occurred throughout her psychological development, and in fact, she has never told anyone about what her uncle does to her, so when she finally tells someone, it is healing and cathartic for her, and she finally gets the moral hope of companionship. She gets to finally share her burden for the very first time. No doubt, to a child, the event weighs on her in a religious way, because of the absolute horror of what she is sharing.
