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20. To Those Who Wait
Themes
and Colors
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
Maddy sends Olly an email just before they meet, saying that their meeting will have been perfect. She describes the sunroom. It’s almost all glass and is decorated like a tropical rainforest, with fake tropical plants, a stream, and aged white wicker furniture. Some days it makes Maddy feel like she’s Outside, but other days it feels like being in a fishbowl. When Maddy enters, Olly is halfway up the rocky wall and grabs at a banana leaf. They both say that it’s not real at the same time. Maddy asks if Olly is going to stay there and invites him to come down. He does and stands still. Maddy thinks he’s trying to not spook her.
Even though the description of the sunroom paints a picture of a beautiful and relaxing room, it nevertheless still isn’t real and cannot provide the kind of joy or relaxation that an actual tropical rainforest might be able to. This again shows how contrived Maddy’s home is, and how ineffective it is at actually making her feel as though she can have genuine experiences from the safety of inside.
Active
Themes
Olly invites Maddy to actually enter the room. Maddy feels like she knows him after all their messaging, but having him in front of her feels different. He’s tall and she thinks his skin would be warm to the touch. Maddy blurts that Olly is different than she expected, and Olly insists that this is true—he’s sexier. They joke with each other about Olly’s muscles and Maddy’s freckles, but then an awkward silence falls. Maddy thinks that Olly’s eyes are the exact blue color he said they were, but seeing them in person is an entirely different experience.
Maddy’s observation about Olly’s blue eyes is a defining moment for her, as she begins to understand that reading about something, either over instant messenger or in books, is in no way a substitute for experiencing the real thing. Reading about eligible bachelors in books is also not the same as having Olly in front of her, which is why she’s thinking about how warm his skin might be—nothing in a book can prepare her for what it might actually feel like to touch him.
Active
Themes
They discuss the room’s furnishings, and then Olly asks how long Maddy has been sick and what would happen if she went outside. Maddy says she’s been sick her whole life and jokes that she’d explode. She explains that she can’t not joke about it, and she tries to not want things she can’t have. Olly asks where Maddy wants to go most. Maddy first says outer space, but then says she wants to see the ocean. Olly offers to describe the ocean, so Maddy asks if being in it is like being in a giant bathtub. Olly says it isn’t: the ocean is scary, cold, and deadly. He says he doesn’t hate it, but it’s simultaneously beautiful and murderous. There’s nothing to drink and if the waves suck a person in, the ocean doesn’t care.
They laugh for a bit and Maddy asks Olly to do one of his tricks. He starts to say that they’ll need to go outside, but then apologizes. Harshly, Maddy tells him that he can’t feel sorry for her. Olly effortlessly falls into a handstand, closes his eyes, and lifts one arm. Maddy studies his exposed stomach and tells him he can stop. He does a backflip, sits down, and asks Maddy why she wants to go to outer space. She says she wants to see the world, but Carla enters and shrewdly asks if they touched. Olly stares at Maddy, making her blush, and assures Carla they didn’t touch. Maddy is sure that she’ll spontaneously combust.
Active
Themes
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