81 pages • 2 hours read
Jordan SonnenblickNotes From The Midnight Driver
Jordan SonnenblickFiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Guitars
Since Notes from the Midnight Driver focuses significantly on characters who are musicians, it is no surprise that the protagonist’s instrument, a guitar, features heavily in the text. Alex’s “beloved Tele” (161) is “the best thing [he] own[s]” (18), and he prizes it above all else. As a musician, Alex spends hours practicing on his guitar, finding renewed purpose in this task when he meets and befriends Sol, after which he spends “tons of time […] practicing [his] jazz tunes” (81). Throughout this time, Alex is playing on his American Fender Telecaster. A key turning moment in the novel occurs when Alex chooses to give up this beloved instrument as a gift to Sol for the second benefit concert. In exchange for this selfless act, Sol gifts Alex a guitar in return, which is so beautiful and special that Alex has difficulty thinking “of it as [HIS] guitar” (227). Through the giving of these guitars as gifts, Sol and Alex cement the strength and depth of their relationship: Both have given up a prized possession to the other.
Music and Melodies
Along with the importance of guitars, music and melody play a significant role in Notes from the Midnight Driver. Although Alex expresses a level of interest in music, a large part of his development occurs after he forms stronger relationships with people who are more “SERIOUS ABOUT MUSIC” (133) than he is. Sol illustrates this frequently, showing visible emotion in response to music and arguing that a man can “be moved by some music once in a while” (85). Through his relationships with the Cha-KINGS and Sol, Alex begins to take his own approach to music more seriously. This is reflected positively in his playing during the second benefit concert, when he “resolve[s] all [his] tension back into the melody” (165), allowing the music to become a vehicle for his emotional processing. Similarly, later in the novel Alex describes how much he has been practicing, because when he “play[s] [he] feel[s] like [his] friend Sol is there” (264). After developing a more sensitive ear and more hardy work ethic about music, Alex uses music and melody to his advantage, both to feel connected to others and to process his own feelings.
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