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
Nomi is still awake when Ray pulls into the driveway at 4:00 in the morning. She goes downstairs and poaches him an egg, and Ray asks if she wants to spend the rest of her life here. Too tired to talk, Nomi buries her bald head in her knees. Ray traces the fishhook scar on her head and reminisces about the day she got it. He, Nomi, Trudie and Tash had rented a motor boat to visit an island on Falcon Lake. Ray wore a dress shirt and swim trunks, and let Nomi and Tash steer the boat. When they got to the island, Ray showed Tash how to cast a fishing line, but she accidentally threw it backwards and hooked Nomi’s head. Nomi was in pain, but Trudie cleansed the cut and cheered her up with lunch.
This is one of Nomi’s longest and most evocative reminiscences about her former family life. But even as the fishhook scar is a reminder of positive relationships, its visibility on Nomi’s bald head is a visceral reminder of her current state of instability. Interestingly, as it becomes clear that leaving home alongside Travis is not feasible, Ray starts to take a more involved role in encouraging Nomi to imagine a different future for herself.
Themes
Later in the afternoon, a storm rolled in and the boat floated away on the choppy waves. Nomi was so happy to be stranded with her family that she didn’t even worry about getting home. They took shelter from the rain in the woods and then played tag in the water by the island, and Nomi saw Ray and Trudie kissing. As the sun set, they roasted marshmallows, and when the boat reappeared Nomi watched Ray swim out to bring it back.
This romantic image of Ray and Trudie contrasts with the emotional distance that grows between them after Tash’s departure, and with Trudie’s eventual decision to leave her husband. Yet Nomi’s narrative leaves room for both sides of this relationship, without trying to decide which is more truthful.
Themes
In the present day, Nomi asks Ray if Trudie really acted in musicals. Ray nods and says that The Mouth took her to audition; he was a different person back then. Nomi asks what score Edwina gave to his choral classes, and Ray says dully that she failed them. Nomi wakes up late the next morning to find that the kitchen table and chairs are gone. Ray calls from school to say that she forgot her driver’s test yesterday, but he rescheduled it for the afternoon.
Presently, The Mouth appears totally certain in his religious convictions. But moments like this complicate his character, showing that he was once attracted to the outside world just as Tash and Nomi are. Ray’s decision to keep selling essential furniture makes the house even more uninhabitable than before. Coupled with his insistence that Nomi learn to drive, this gesture may represent his growing conviction that she must leave home.
Themes
Nomi aces the test while Ray looks on proudly. She makes minestrone soup for dinner. She tells Ray that in order to graduate, she needs to write a story with “a triggering point, a climax, and a conclusion.” Ray goes upstairs to watch Hymn Sing, and Nomi smokes a cigarette and reflects that Travis hasn’t called since she “botched yet another common human activity.”
The contrived assignments Nomi must complete to obtain a diploma contrast sharply with the real skills she’ll need in order to make her way in the world, like gaining independence (represented by the ability to drive) and self-confidence (shown by her waning dependence on Travis).
Themes
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Nomi calls Travis. His mother picks up and says that he and his father are doing a job in another town. Nomi asks for the address of the job, but Travis’s mother won’t tell her. Nomi takes the car and drives to the town where Travis is theoretically working, but she can’t find his truck anywhere. She drives to Travis’s house and accuses his parents of lying to her, and Travis’s mother says pityingly that Travis cares about Nomi a lot. Nomi pretends that she forgot a bracelet in Travis’s room. In her mind, she hears Tash telling her to walk away. Nomi reflects that Tash taught her that people who can leave “will always be infinitely cooler than those who can’t,” and that because Tash is in the first category, Nomi must be in the second.
The “advice” that Nomi invents and attributes to Tash has always been important, but this time it’s especially clear that Nomi’s sister is indirectly influencing her to do the right thing. At the same time, Nomi’s declaration that she feels trapped at home by her sister’s decision to leave shows her understandable resentment of Tash’s actions, and suggests that her lack of self-confidence stems from a feeling of living in Tash’s shadow.
Themes
Finally, Travis’s mother lets Nomi into his room. It’s empty, and Nomi takes a guitar pick and leaves. She goes home, cries, and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she spells out Travis’s name with cigarettes in the backyard.
Even though Nomi’s behavior right now is disruptive and strange, this moment of breakdown is crucial to getting over Travis. Sometimes, transgressing social norms is essential to growing as a person.
Themes
