The power of language is a motif that develops The Media’s Role in Shaping Perception. Kate Messner carefully crafts word choice and language throughout the novel to develop tone and show the distinct voices of her characters. The ways tone and voice can influence news coverage is also explored. Language is powerful in both positive and negative ways, since it provides a source of valuable self-expression, but is also used to label and exclude people. As the character most strongly connected with this motif, Elidee calls out the power of language to misrepresent ideas when she writes an anonymous note to the principal about misquoting Alexander Hamilton: “If you want students here to be responsible with language, you should probably be more careful about it yourself” (170). Readers can infer the anonymous note came from Elidee because Mrs. Roy had told her in gym class, “We use language here respectfully and responsibly” (169). In this light, Elidee’s note about taking care with language is an ironic rebuke since it was the other students who were using language irresponsibly to insult her.

Language as self-expression also demonstrates the value of sharing one’s story, as it frees Elidee to tell the truth about her experiences, something she recognizes early in the novel when she urges Troy to work on his appeal, “Like maybe you really could write your way out of that prison, just like Hamilton wrote his way off his island” (54).