First Kid, Second Kid: Chapter 10 Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Chapter 10 opens with an unnamed mother reflecting on the old saying that a mother is different the second time around. She presents a series of stark, darkly comedic comparisons between how she raised her firstborn daughter, Julie, and her second daughter, Jane. For Julie, snack time involved organic apples and almond butter served beautifully; for Jane, the narrator would bite off half a Snickers and spit it into her pen. Bathing Julie meant Himalayan rainwater and lavender fields; bathing Jane meant putting her in a salad bowl and sliding it onto the fire escape during a storm. When Julie had bad dreams, the mother comforted her with lullabies; when Jane had bad dreams, the mother told her about serial killer Aileen Wuornos. After Julie passed her swim test, the mother celebrated with frozen yogurt; after Jane passed the same test, the mother drove her to a river, dropped her in the water, and yelled “Swim home, bitch!” When arguing with her husband in front of Julie, the mother tried to keep the peace; when arguing in front of Jane, she retrieved a blade and instructed Jane to attack her father. The one birthday example is different: Julie got an expensive Elsa costume; Jane asked for a Dora Explorer costume, but the mother did not get it until fourteen years later, on the eve of Jane’s eighteenth birthday, after Jane had run away from boarding school and cut off contact.
The mother locates Jane living in a run-down house with her thirty-nine-year-old boyfriend. Jane is visibly pregnant, with a black eye, straggly hair, and hollowed cheeks. The house smells of mildew and decay. Jane is hostile, refusing the Dora costume and telling her mother to stay away. The mother notices details like a lava lamp from a family trip to Paris and a blanket Jane knitted at a special school for self-harm. The mother apologizes and begs for a second chance; Jane tells her to go fuck herself. As the mother leaves, Jane screams that she is toxic and a witch, and that she will give her baby a better life. The mother walks to her car and thinks, “Well, sure. That’s your first kid.”
Key Events
- The narrator contrasts her parenting of Julie and Jane across multiple scenarios (snacks, bathing, bad dreams, swimming, arguments, birthdays).
- The mother reveals that she ignored Jane’s birthday request for a Dora costume for fourteen years.
- Jane ran away from boarding school, works at Uno’s, and now lives with an older boyfriend in a poor neighborhood.
- The mother visits Jane on her eighteenth birthday, finding her pregnant, bruised, and living in squalor.
- Jane refuses the costume, rejects the mother’s apology, and orders her to stay away.
- The mother leaves the costume on the stoop and walks away, reflecting that Jane will likely treat her first child better.
Character Development
The Narrator (Mother): The chapter deepens her character from a detached, darkly humorous observer to a guilt-ridden parent facing the consequences of her neglect. Her confession about treating Jane poorly and her desperate apology show vulnerability, yet her final thought reveals she has not fully broken the cycle of favoritism.
Jane: Once a defiant teenager who ran away, Jane is now physically and emotionally broken. Her pregnancy and living conditions suggest ongoing abuse and poverty. Her anger toward her mother is justified, but she also shows signs of repeating neglect by threatening to give her baby “a better life”—implying she may also treat a first child differently.
Julie: Though never directly present, Julie’s perfect childhood stands in stark contrast to Jane’s, highlighting the mother’s unequal treatment.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Parental Favoritism / Birth Order: The central theme is the stark difference in how the mother parented Julie (firstborn) versus Jane (second-born). The chapter argues that parents can unconsciously invest more in a first child and become negligent with later children.
The Dora Costume: A powerful symbol of belated, inadequate apology. The mother buys the costume fourteen years late, trying to make up for past neglect, but it arrives too late to mend the relationship.
The Lava Lamp: A reminder of a family trip to Paris, a rare moment of shared happiness. Its presence in Jane’s squalid home suggests she clings to fragments of a better past.
Aileen Wuornos: The serial killer anecdote represents the mother’s inappropriate, emotionally abusive way of “comforting” Jane, warping the child’s sense of safety.
Death and Decay: The smell of a dead animal in the walls, the Easy Mac cup with cigarette ash, and Jane’s faded bruise all evoke a decayed family bond and a life slipping into ruin.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 10 is the emotional climax of Big Time for the mother-daughter narrative. It moves from dark comedy to raw tragedy, showing the real damage caused by the parent’s earlier neglect. The chapter forces the reader to reconsider the narrator’s earlier jokes: what seemed like absurd, funny exaggerations become evidence of genuine harm. It also sets up a potential cyclical pattern, as the mother predicts Jane will favor her first child. This chapter deepens the book’s exploration of family dysfunction and the long reach of parental mistakes.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does the mother’s treatment of Julie and Jane differ in the “Bad Dreams” anecdote?
When Julie had a bad dream, the mother listened, rubbed her back, and sang a lullaby, reassuring her that monsters were imaginary. When Jane had a bad dream, the mother told her the monster wasn’t real but then gave a graphic account of Aileen Wuornos, a real serial killer, and described her execution. This contrast shows the mother’s willingness to give Julie comfort while exposing Jane to frightening realities.
2. Why does the mother buy the Dora costume fourteen years late?
She buys it on the eve of Jane’s eighteenth birthday after being struck by a suffocating pang of guilt. She had not spoken to Jane since Jane ran away from boarding school. The costume represents a belated attempt to fulfill a long-ignored request, but it arrives too late to repair their broken relationship.
3. What does the mother mean when she thinks, “Well, sure. That’s your first kid” at the end?
The mother recognizes that Jane, now pregnant with her first child, will likely treat that child with more care and devotion than she herself treated Jane. The line suggests the mother sees the cycle of parental favoritism repeating itself: Jane will be a different, better mother to her firstborn, just as the narrator was to Julie.