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43. Violet: March 10
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in All the Bright Places, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mental Health, Stigma, and Suicide
Community, Support, and Trust
Individuality and Identity
Language, Meaning, and Control
Grief, Trauma, Purpose, and Survivorship
Summary
Analysis
The Nest Houses no longer exist; one old man tells Finch that “they been ate up by weather and the elements.” Finch thinks that everyone is suffering the same fate as the Nest Houses and he thinks of the grave he dug for the cardinal. He wonders if it’s still there; the thought of the bird’s bones in the grave is the saddest thing Finch can think of.
Finch isn’t keen on the idea of burying bodies—he’d prefer cremation. So, the memory of burying the cardinal may make him sad not only because the bones are a reminder that the cardinal is dead. They also remind him how uncaring and unwilling to listen his family is, since they insisted on burying the bird.
Active
Themes
When Finch gets home, he stares at himself in the bathroom mirror. His reflection disappears, and Finch wonders if he’s gone. This is fascinating. Finch wonders if he can touch himself, and sure enough, he can feel his heartbeat. He shuts himself in his closet, curls up, and breathes carefully. If he breathes too loudly, he might “wake up the darkness.” The darkness could do anything to him, Violet, or Finch’s loved ones.
Finch’s disappearing reflection suggests that he’s starting to lose his sense of who he is. And then, worrying about “wak[ing] up the darkness” shows how afraid and alone Finch feels. The darkness could refer to the literal darkness in the room, or it could refer to the figurative darkness in Finch’s mind. And while the darkness of the room can’t actually hurt anything, if Finch is referring to his own mind, it would reinforce that he’s most afraid of himself.
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Themes
In the morning, Finch checks the landline voicemail. Mr. Embry left one for Finch’s mom that he says is important, but Finch deletes it. Then, he locks himself back in his closet and breathes carefully. The same phrases cycle through his mind, over and over again: that he’s broken, a fraud, and impossible to love. Violet will figure all of this out soon. Finch’s mind also decides that he has bipolar disorder.
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Themes
Finch is silent during dinner. Afterward, he steals a bottle of sleeping pills from Finch’s mom and swallows half the bottle. He wants to feel what Cesare Pavese felt. Finch stretches out in his closet and things start to feel hazy and heavy—it feels like sleeping, not like anything heroic. Dragging himself up, Finch tries to make himself vomit but nothing comes up. Then, he puts on his sneakers and runs, though it feels like running through quicksand.
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Themes
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Finch runs to the hospital and asks to have his stomach pumped. He blacks out and when he wakes up, a nurse hands him paperwork to fill out. The only thing filled in is his age and the name, which reads Josh Raymond. Finch laughs. His mind offers several more facts about suicide, and then, when the nurse is gone, he gets dressed and leaves the hospital. Finch knows that if he stays, they’ll contact his parents, and then they’ll make him stay. Finch knows he’s too fast for them to catch.
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