The Thing About Jellyfish

“Not everything makes sense, Zu. Sometimes things just happen.” 

Suzy’s mother tells her the sad news about Franny’s death in a flashback scene, and Suzy reacts with repeated claims that the news makes no sense. Her mother cannot provide what Suzy would consider to be a rational or valid reason that explains Franny’s drowning, and her mother admits in this passage that reasons cannot explain everything that happens.

“Maybe she is dead because of that jellyfish sting.”

Suzy bullets a list of ideas, facts, and statistics about the frequency of jellyfish stings and the number of people she knows in her life, proving on paper that it is statistically possible that Franny might have suffered a jellyfish sting, leading to her drowning. This idea forms the basis for her hypothesis about Franny’s death and sends Suzy on a mission to learn more about jellyfish.

“The thing is, a person gets so few chances to really fix something, to make it right.” 

In Dr. Leg’s office, Suzy is inspired to find a jellyfish expert who can help her with her hypothesis. She feels guilt for the way her friendship with Franny ended, and because she has learned that time is limited, she is determined to prove now that Franny actually died due to a sting.

“Dumb old words that sometimes end friendships forever.” 

Suzy has decided that “not-talking” is better than her usual “constant-talking” and much better than the “dumb old words” of small talk. So, beginning with her father’s question about the new school year at their weekly get-together at Ming Palace, she no longer speaks unless necessary. Suzy considers the sounds around her as more meaningful than words she might say to her father, comparing all of her words to the words both spoken and unspoken by herself and Franny when they were no longer friends.

“If I was going to pass seventh-grade science, I was going to have to speak out loud.”

Just moments before this realization, Suzy proves that she can speak aloud when Mrs. Turton wants to know her topic for the research project. Suzy answers her in one word (“Jellyfish”). The oral report for her project must be delivered in front of her peers, however, and she must speak the report as it is a required part of the curriculum. 

“And then I saw Jamie, and I knew. Jamie was the one.”

Suzy discovers Dr. Jamie Seymour, her perfect jellyfish researcher, after a long online search. Her notes reveal why she has rejected three previous “possible experts.” The discovery of Jamie follows closely on the heels of Possible Expert #3, Angel Yanagihara. Suzy rejects Angel because she used a mouse in a lab experiment with jellyfish venom. 

“And that’s when I know: Everything is about to change. It’s about to get knotted up in the worst possible way.” 

This passage from a flashback is addressed to Franny. Suzy recalls the morning bus ride when she intended to tell Franny that her parents are divorcing, but when Franny asked which boy Suzy likes, Suzy changed her mind. When Suzy realizes how much of a departure the boy subject is from topics on which they normally converse, she knows her friendship and her life in general as a soon-to-be middle schooler are changed forever.

“And if he could help me with this, he’d be helping with something else, too. He’d be helping me write a new ending, a better ending, to the story of my friendship with Franny.” 

Suzy admits here that her quest to discover the truth of Franny’s death with Dr. Jamie Seymour’s help is two-fold: she wants a “real” reason to blame for Franny’s death, such as a jellyfish sting. She also wants a different villain to star in this tale, so that she, Suzy, does not have to feel so guilt-ridden for the way their friendship ended.

“You’re just. So. Weird.”

In sixth grade, Franny becomes angry at the lunch table when Suzy tries to explain to Aubrey, Molly, and Jenna that urine is actually sterile and other scientific facts that embarrass Franny. The girls react with silence. Suzy tries to make up for the awkwardness by calling Franny the nickname she, Suzy, used to call her: “Strawberry Girl.” Franny’s anger increases, and she storms away, insulting Suzy with these words.

“I am becoming an expert in watching other girls’ backs.” 

Suzy relates this thought in a flashback to the sixth grade campout. At this time, she was alone among her classmates, following the other girls when called by the teacher but apart from their group. Walking behind Franny, all Suzy sees is Franny’s back. The line has a double meaning as it reminds the reader of Suzy’s promise to Franny to send a sign if Franny’s behavior ever becomes like Aubrey’s.

“Maybe this is what happens when a person grows up. Maybe the space between you and the other people in your life grows so big you can stuff it full of all kinds of lies.” 

In a flashback to the last morning of sixth grade, Suzy reflects on her lie to her mother about cleaning the classroom, necessitating an early-morning ride to school. With this lie, she will arrive early enough to stuff the frozen disks of urine in Franny’s locker. This message to Franny is more important than the guilt of telling a lie to her mother.

“And then we’ll be even. We’ll be able to start again.”

This passage reveals Suzy’s thoughts as she pushes the frozen disks of urine into Franny’s locker. She tells herself that this action is not about revenge, but she also reflects on the ways Franny betrayed her. Suzy believes that Franny asked for this clear message years before, when she made Suzy promise to send her a sign if she ever started to act like Aubrey. Suzy wants desperately for Franny to be her friend again and has convinced herself that this sign will balance out the pain Franny caused so that they can move forward.

“For a kid who had recently gotten detention for throwing paperback dictionaries out our English classroom window, he was maybe not so bad.” 

Suzy considers Justin Maloney a troublesome and ornery boy at the beginning of the story, but after he watches the pollination video with her and explains that his nickname for her is “Belle,” Suzy begins to see Justin as a more thoughtful person. 

“Here was the problem with fifteen-year-old Bridget Brown: She didn’t know how to plan.” 

Suzy decides that a trip to Australia to see Jamie is possible, and she reflects on news stories she has heard about kids flying alone. In one story, Bridget Brown takes her brother and child neighbor from Jacksonville to Nashville on a flight but runs out of money before reaching their desired destination. Suzy discovers that children must be 12 to fly alone, and she resolves to create a better plan for her trip to Australia than Bridget did for her trip to Nashville.

“Are you ready to say goodbye?” 

Dr. Legs asks this question of Suzy at a counseling session when Suzy finally speaks to her and asks how people say goodbye. It is ironic that Dr. Legs thinks Suzy refers to Franny, as she, a therapist trained in communicating, misinterprets Suzy’s first spoken words to her. Suzy isn’t thinking of Franny but of leaving her parents behind when she flies to Australia. 

“And by this time next week, I’d be on the other side of the world.” 

Suzy is at Ming Palace with her dad, but she thinks about her upcoming secret trip. By the following Saturday, she will have arrived to Cairns, Australia. She plans to purchase the flight ticket on Tuesday after school and begin her trip early Thursday morning.

“I needed to regain control of this situation, and fast.” 

Suzy feels her trip plans fading away as the airline desk agent tells her she cannot travel internationally alone. With her efforts so intently focused on taking the trip, Suzy can think of no other options. Within minutes, she realizes she has failed and is not able to go to Australia.

“So… What’s going on, Zu?”

Suzy’s brother Aaron asks her this question in the airport. He has come with Suzy’s mother to pick her up. The question is so deceptively simple in comparison to the complexity of the situation that Suzy can only laugh in response. After she recovers, she tells Aaron and Mom what happened.

“Well […] When she hears about this, she may just change her mind.” 

Suzy tells Mom and Aaron why she wanted to go to Australia and then recalls that Dr. Legs told her at the first appointment that there is no “wrong way” to grieve. Suzy considers what she has done—and what she has put her family through—in the interest of grief. 

“Like, what if we could return to the feeling we had when we were little, that sense that anything is possible?” 

Though her plan to reach Jamie in Australia failed, Suzy feels hope in the “Conclusion” section of the book. She recognizes now that while scary things like jellyfish will always be a part of the world, humans alone are the ones who have the capabilities to hope, dream, and change. 

“That’s the thing about jellyfish: They’ll never under that. All they do is drift along, unaware.” 

Suzy concludes that while jellyfish have power in their numbers, their stings, and their “immortality” trait, they are incapable of thinking and feeling emotions. Humans’ ability to overcome fear and to view each other with perspective gives humans the power to change.

“Our knees touch. We begin again.” 

In the last flashback chapter, Suzy remembers sitting close to Franny outside on a late summer evening right before the start of fifth grade. They play a game repeatedly as they laugh. Suzy prefaces this memory by saying that if some scientists are correct, all moments in time are happening at the same time, making this moment an ongoing part of Suzy’s life and identity. Though Franny is gone after an upsetting end to their friendship, in this memory, they can begin again, over and over. 

“Honey, just yesterday you were ready to fly to another continent.” 

Suzy’s mom reminds her that she was brave to plan to go to Australia while Suzy debates going into the Heroes and Villains dance at school. Suzy can only remember that she failed in her plans and she doubts her own courage, but her mother convinces her to try to go to the dance by telling Suzy that she can call her mother if the experience goes badly.