Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Everything, Everything, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
Trust and Lies
Family, Abuse, and Bravery
The Value of Experience
Summary
Analysis
As Mom takes Maddy’s blood pressure, she asks what Maddy wants to do after dinner. She doesn’t mention Phonetic Scrabble, Mom’s favorite game, but Maddy insists that they play it. Maddy explains that it’s her birthday, which means that Mom gave Carla the day off so Mom can spend the whole day with Maddy. Mom listens to Maddy’s heart and when Maddy notices a concerned look on Mom’s face, she kisses her forehead quickly. Maddy declares that she’ll win Phonetic Scrabble, even though she knows she won’t.
From this exchange, it’s clear that Mom and Maddy are extremely close and have come up with their own ways to pass the time since Maddy is so secluded. In particular, it’s significant that Maddy notices Mom’s concern and kisses her to make her feel better. This suggests that Maddy has learned to reflect and reciprocate the kind of care that Mom shows her, and she knows how to read others’ emotions well.
Themes
Maddy and Mom bake Maddy’s traditional birthday cake, vanilla sponge with vanilla cream frosting. Maddy frosts it and then draws 18 white daisies and white curtains around the sides. Mom declares that the cake is perfect like Maddy, and Maddy explains that her birthday always makes Mom weepy and joyful. It’s the one day per year that they’re both very aware that Maddy is sick and won’t be cured. Maddy thinks of how, as she gets older, it gets easier to ignore that she’ll never learn to drive or go to prom. This year is harder, though, since Maddy is turning 18 and is technically a legal adult. SCID means that she’s not going to go to college.
Even though Mom and Maddy are going through the motions of celebrating Maddy’s birthday, Maddy implies that her birthday doesn’t mean much for either of them except that Maddy is still alive to celebrate it. With this, the novel begins to suggest that traditional coming of age milestones, like turning 18, are relatively meaningless for Maddy. While she may now have the right to exist as an adult in society, that right is relatively meaningless if Maddy cannot exercise it.
Themes
Later, Maddy blows out the candle on her cake. When Mom asks, Maddy says she wished for world peace—that’s more likely to come true than finding a cure for SCID. They begin a game of Phonetic Scrabble and Maddy loses spectacularly. Later, they watch their favorite movie, Young Frankenstein. They laugh at the same jokes they always do and Maddy reasons that it wasn’t a horrible birthday.
These descriptions give the impression that Maddy and Mom’s relationship functions like a well-oiled machine. It doesn’t change and it’s comfortable and predictable. This sets the stage for major changes throughout the rest of the novel, as their relationship cannot stay this way forever as Maddy gets older.
Themes
