Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Beautiful Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Addiction, Ruin, and Redemption
Responsibility and Blame
Parenthood and Control
Support vs. Enabling
The Disease Model, Stigma, and Treatment
Summary
Analysis
David calls Z., who explains further: Nic dropped her off at the market at 5:45 a.m. and took her car to Vicki’s. He was going to break in and steal Vicki’s computer and come back, but he disappeared for four hours. David calls Vicki, who finds Nic in the garage, piling things into shopping bags. He’s tweaking, and he managed to lock himself inside somehow. Vicki tells Nic that he has a choice: she will call the police, or he can go back to rehab.
The degradation of Nic’s values are on display yet again. He has broken into his house to steal from his mother, which Z. describes as an acceptable thing to do. Vicki’s response to this incident also highlights how her and David’s reactions have had to evolve over time. Letting Nic go without any consequences, they recognize, would simply be condoning this behavior. Thus, they can try to get support for him in rehab, but they cannot enable him to continue to break into their houses.
Themes
David makes more calls to rehab centers. He speaks to someone at Hazelden’s four-month program in Oregon. If Nic is willing, it is likely that he can go there. David calls Nic, telling him about the bed in Hazelden, but Nic says that he can recover alone. With pressing from both David and Z., Nic relents and agrees to go. He says that he thought he could stay sober because he wanted to, admitting, “I guess this is what it means to be an addict.”
Even after all these years and many rehab visits, Nic still attempts to assert that he does not need help in order to get well. But with pressing from Z. and David, Nic seems to understand that his addiction is not something he can control alone. Instead, he needs a program to help him get well.
Themes
On Monday, Nic speaks to a counselor at Hazelden and says that he is going to Oregon. David books a flight and calls Hazelden to be sure that someone will pick Nic up—but the counselor at Hazelden says that Nic was not approved for admission. David is confounded, but the supervisor is adamant that he cannot come. David immediately makes arrangements for Nic to detox at a hospital instead.
On top of help from a program, it is incredibly clear how valuable David’s support of Nic has been. Without his help in searching for these programs and coordinating where Nic should go to get help, David has allowed Nic to have the best chance possible for recovery.
Themes
Nic goes to the hospital, and David checks in with the nurses at the ward. One says that she doesn’t think Nic’s body could have survived another month, given the amount of drugs he was taking. After a few days, David speaks to Nic, who sounds extremely depressed. He thanks David for getting him to the hospital, cries, and tells David that he feels like his life has been “stolen.” David finds a program in Santa Fe for Nic to go to, and Vicki drives him to the airport.
Nic’s revelation, that he feels as though his life has been stolen, shows just how much of an impact his addiction has had on his path, and how much ruin it has brought into his life. So many times, he has been near death or at the point of losing everyone who cares about him. Yet in going back to recovery, he still carries hope that he can turn his life around.
Themes
Get the entire Beautiful Boy LitChart as a printable PDF.
David and Karen take Jasper and Daisy to a family therapist, whom David and Karen met with earlier. The therapist talks to the kids reassuringly, telling them that David and Karen told him what’s happening with Nic, and that it’s very scary to have a brother addicted to drugs. He says it’s normal to feel confused and to feel like they both love Nic and might also be afraid of him. The more the therapist and the kids talk, the more open they get.
Just as Nic needs support, and just as David goes to therapy himself or finds comfort in the Al-Anon sessions, so too do Jasper, Daisy, and Karen find value in speaking to someone about Nic’s addiction. David thus reinforces that even for people who are more tangentially linked to addiction, it is important to get support.
Themes
Karen talks about how whenever something is missing, she panics that Nic might have broken in again. The therapist explains how triggers can return people to a state of panic, like the newspapers they found. David nods, saying that he thinks this happens when the phone rings. He says that he is always worried there will be news of another crisis. The therapist suggests shutting off his ringer for periods of time and establishing times when David and Nic can speak on the phone so that he doesn’t constantly worry about Nic calling. Afterward, everyone is relieved to have been able to talk with the therapist.
Speaking to the therapist, David finally links his cell phone to his constant sense of panic; the phone is connected to David’s need for control. It is a thing that links him to his son, but because he cannot control when Nic might be calling or what the news might be on the other end, it is panic-inducing. Instead, the therapist helps David to control what he can, like turning it off for periods of time or establishing boundaries with Nic to alleviate his worry.
Themes
Three weeks after Nic enters rehab, he is still in acute physical and mental pain—once, he is even rushed to a hospital. But Nic says that he cannot believe he relapsed, feeling incredibly guilty. David is glad that Nic is on a better path, but he’s wary of being hopeful. Another month passes, and David takes a trip to visit Nic in Santa Fe. He wonders why he is there, thinking about how everything he has done over the years has helped so little. And yet, he still misses his son.
Going to a visit Nic at his third rehab, David understandably questions why he is continuing to help his son. The fact that Nic is still battling this disease demonstrates again that it is a lifelong illness. And David, as the author, implies that he is helping his son because it is the only thing that he can do and the only way for him to maintain his relationship with his child.
Themes
David drives through the town and arrives at the rehab center. He sees Nic, and they hug. Vicki arrives at the center as well. Even now, David still feels guilty over their divorce. Though they have talked on the phone and grown closer in the last few years, they have not been in the same room for more than a few minutes in the past 20 years.
Even though Vicki and David still have lingering pain from their divorce, they both recognize the importance of supporting Nic. As much as they have been negatively impacted by Nic’s addiction, they know that he needs support from both his parents to get well.
Themes
David, Vicki, and Nic join a group session. David is upset, thinking how many times he has done this before. They fill out a questionnaire and then move on to art therapy. David is again furious, thinking that he has been through too much to be finger painting. Still, they start to draw. David, Vicki, and Nic are given a piece of paper that is divided into three.
The irony of David’s thoughts here are that they likely mirror Nic’s in some ways. Nic has been through so much in his addiction and has also been to so many meetings and rehabs and group sessions—and yet both he and David must recognize that there is still value in these therapies, because they are the only hope for Nic to be able to treat himself and repair his relationships.
Themes
David starts to draw with chalk, merely pushing it around on the page. Vicki uses watercolors, painting a pretty beach scene. Nic draws a heart with muscles, tissue, and ventricles. Vicki smears her scene with swashes of black over the sky. Nic writes “I am sorry” over and over again. David continues to draw branches and circles randomly. He soon realizes that it is the opening of his brain.
Each of Nic and his parents’ drawings represents their own personal entry point into Nic’s addiction: Vicki feels the pain of something that has been ruined. Nic feels the guilt and blame of what he has done to his wellbeing and that of those around him. David feels the weight of his own anxiety: his lack of control caused so much stress that he literally caused his own brain trauma.
Themes
Families take turns talking and sharing their drawings. Nic says that it’s amazing that Vicki is there and that the work he’s doing at the program is about trying to heal, not trying to make excuses or blame others. David starts to cry, and Nic puts his hand on David’s shoulder. Later that night, David wonders if it’s possible to get beyond blaming.
Nic’s acknowledgement of his own responsibility is an important one; for so long, he had blamed those around him (and David willingly accepted that blame). But here, Nic recognizes his own responsibility to stay in recovery in the future.
Themes
The next day, David drives to the center for another group therapy session. It is a relief to talk about his problems. On the final session of the last day, they are instructed to think about the future and the steps they can take to get better. Nic’s small steps forward include attending AA and repairing his relationships with Karen, Jasper, and Daisy. David thinks that it will take a miracle for Nic’s recovery to succeed, but he also thinks that it is a miracle that he and Vicki are there together to support Nic.
For Nic, recovery means not only rebuilding his own life (his health, job, and future potential), but also the restoration of the relationships that he’s damaged. This again emphasizing how addiction can affect so many different people besides the addict themselves. Additionally, while David seems skeptical of Nic’s recovery, his last statement here admits that it is always worth hoping for a miracle.
Themes
David returns home, feeling completely raw and exposed. He watches Jasper play lacrosse, his phone off in his pocket. He reminds himself that his addiction to Nic’s addiction did not serve Nic or anyone around David; now, David is in his own program to recover through small steps like this and through therapy.
While Nic was dealing with his addiction, so too was David trying to wean himself off of his obsession. His need for control over Nic’s life has finally eased, and he, too, is taking steps to make sure that his relationship with his son is a healthy one.
Themes
After practice, David and Jasper go to a sporting goods store, and a piece of paper falls out of Jasper’s wallet when he retrieves a gift card: it’s Nic’s letter to him. At home, when the kids are asleep, David tries to understand what he is feeling: a combination of hurt and happiness about the past and a combination of anxiety and optimism for the future. Or, as he thinks, “everything.”
David’s conclusion, which echoes the words that he and Nic would say to each other when they said goodbye for long periods of time, encapsulates the contradictions of addiction. There is much despair, but there is also hope. There is sadness, but there can also be joy. And while David might always want to be there for his son, he knows that he won’t always know what Nic is doing or where he is, and that Nic’s life is his to live.
Themes
