When You Reach Me Chapter 21 Summary

Things You Push Away

  • Miranda tells us about pushing the "veil" away, which is what her mother has to do to get in the zone and practice for $20,000 Pyramid.
  • What does Mom mean by that? It's nothing spiritual or magical or anything, just that "most of the time, people get distracted by the little stuff and ignore the big stuff" (21.4).
  • When you push the veil away (or when a corner of it lifts), you can see the world as it really is: "all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love" (21.3).
  • Miranda wonders if some people were born without a veil – if some people see the big stuff all the time, like maybe "you" (21.6).