Themes
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
On Thursday, Finch starts to text Violet. He writes that “they were all perfect days,” but then he turns his phone off and doesn’t respond to Violet’s texts or voicemails. He texts back hours later to say that he’s “found.” Violet’s mom talks to Finch’s mom, who says that Finch is going to check in every week and that they don’t need a psychiatrist for him. This is normal; Finch isn’t missing. When Violet asks her mom if they know where Finch went, she notices her mom look suddenly worried. Violet knows that if she disappeared, her parents would have police looking in multiple states. Violet’s mom says she doesn’t know, but it seems like they have to trust that Finch is okay.
Finch’s first text alludes to one of Finch and Violet’s first conversations about whether a “perfect day” is possible. He seems to imply that all their days together were perfect, speaking to the power of connecting with another person. His next text, though, shows that he’s unable to actually articulate how he’s feeling. As Violet and her mom discuss the situation, Violet is again reminded that Finch’s support network is much less dependable than her own.
Themes
At school, Violet feels like the only one who notices Finch is gone. School days proceed as normal: Violet gets acceptance and rejection letters from colleges, plays in an orchestra concert, and holds her first meeting for Germ. Whenever she texts Finch, it takes him ages to write back—and he never actually responds to what she says. She’s starting to get angry.
Violet’s feeling that she’s the only one who cares about Finch’s disappearance suggests that on some level, she thinks that everyone should be just as concerned about him as she is. Everyone has some responsibility to help him—and everyone but her is failing in that regard.
Themes
After another two days, Violet starts getting texts from Finch. He writes first that he’s “on the highest branch,” and then that they “are written in paint.” That night, he writes that he believes in signs—and the next afternoon, he writes cryptically, “The glow of Ultraviolet.” The following day, he writes, “A lake. A prayer. It’s so lovely to be lovely in Private.” Then, the texts stop.
Again, Finch’s texts don’t make any sense to Violet, so they’re even more maddening than they might be otherwise. And because Violet doesn’t know what he means by any of these phrases or observations, she also has no of way of knowing whether Finch needs help or not.
Themes
