The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and graphic violence.

Through Shenanigan’s adventures, the author explores the struggle for self-determination. Characters in literature often seek to find a balance between others’ expectations and their desire to set their own course in life. The Swifts’ expectations are uniquely restrictive because they believe people’s destinies are defined from the moment they’re named. The messaging that Shenanigan receives as a result is a key reason for her struggle to determine her own fate: “The Dictionary has enormous power, after all. She wouldn’t be called Shenanigan if it wasn’t who she’s meant to be” (18). Although the girl loves playing pranks, she wants her actions to be recognized as her own choices, not “just her moving along the track the Dictionary had laid out for her the day she was born” (140). Over the course of the novel, the protagonist proves that she’s capable of more than “[t]omfoolery, skulduggery, mischief of all varieties” by responsibly prioritizing the search for Aunt Schadenfreude’s attacker over her personal treasure hunt (48), maturely apologizing to her older sisters first, saving her family from the laughing gas, and sending the distress signal.