Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Complicated Kindness, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Religion and Dogma
Family and Home
Community and Coming of Age
Narrative and Storytelling
Christian Salvation vs. Earthly Joy
Summary
Analysis
When Nomi is 11, Tash and Trudie go away to a Christian camp for two weeks. Tash is excited because there will be boys there. Nomi is supposed to take care of Ray, and she comes up with an “alphabet routine,” cooking a food from a different letter of the alphabet every night. When Tash comes home, she tells Nomi about her romance with a counselor named Mason. When she and Trudie left the camp by boat, she says, Mason dove into the water and swam after them. But Mason doesn’t write Tash as he had promised to do. Knowing he plays basketball, Tash starts attending all the regional games in hopes of running into him and trying not to cry. Nomi only learns about her disappointment and shame by reading her diary.
Nomi’s formative memories of Tash often involve boys and romance. While Tash shows Nomi how to question her community and religion, she also sets an example of becoming very invested in unhealthy relationships, and of keeping quiet about the “shame and disappointment” she experiences—two behaviors Nomi emulates in her relationship with Travis. Moreover, the fact that Tash leaves town with Ian makes Nomi think that she must escape alongside Travis. Eventually, Nomi will learn that she can love and respect her sister without treating her as a role model in every area of life.
Themes
While going through Tash’s bureau drawers, Nomi finds a card from Trudie expressing her love and wish that the Lord will always guide Tash’s actions. Nomi wonders if Trudie had foreseen Tash’s departure, or if Trudie was thinking about leaving herself. If so, Nomi wonders why Trudie didn’t leave her a card.
In many ways, Tash and Trudie have more in common with each other than with Nomi. Nomi’s discovery of the card makes her feel isolated and shut out from her mother and sister’s relationship, and casts doubt on her happy memories of familial unity.
Themes
Travis tells Nomi that she should get on the Pill. Nomi thinks he’s probably right. Travis has recently quit school to work with his father, and Nomi makes fun of Mr. Quiring for a while so that Travis won’t miss school. After leaving Travis, she goes on a field trip to a farm with her class. A crop duster flies overhead and everybody chokes on pesticides. Nomi finds a handwritten note in the field, but it’s torn in half so she only read a few phrases. When she gets back to school, the principal announces that he’s cancelled a planned musical performance because many parents have called in worrying that it’s sinful.
By pressuring Nomi to take the birth control pill, Travis is dictating the terms of his and Nomi’s future sexual relationship. While she complies with his prodding, it’s never clear if she herself wants to start taking birth control. The adult decisions she has to make in her relationship with Travis contrast with innocent teenage school activities like field trips. It’s also ironic that the principal and parents are busy censoring school performances, when their real concern should be that children like Nomi are spending their free time doing drugs and having sex.
Themes
After going home and taking a nap, Nomi wakes up with bite marks on her arm and realizes she’s been biting herself in her sleep. She starts making a list of things to improve about herself, because Travis has suggested she “broaden [her] horizons and attempt to finish [her] thoughts.” She resolves to read Camus and Freud, form opinions on world news, learn more about existentialism, and become funny. Then she kneels by her bed and tries to pray, feeling stupid. She remembers that Tash once told her that “God is music.” Nomi falls asleep.
Nomi’s bizarre biting habit is a visceral reflection of the fact that living in this community is very self-destructive. It’s interesting that Nomi tells herself she has to be funnier, given that humor is one of her most obvious talents. Her attempt to pray is reminiscent of Trudie, who tries to hold on to rituals of faith even while experiencing serious religious doubts. In this sense, Nomi is still connected to her mother in spite of their physical separation.
Themes
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