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
Maddy surprises Olly by wading into the ocean right away. She and Olly swim around the reef. They find the humuhumunukunukuapuaa right away, and Maddy marvels at the vibrant colors of the reef. Olly takes Maddy’s hand and further out, they see stingrays and sea turtles. Finally, Olly tugs Maddy back to shore. She knows he’s watching her surreptitiously, but she’s watching him the same way. She shivers, which Olly takes as her being cold, so he wraps his towel around her. Maddy senses that Olly is holding himself back as he steps away, but she’s not sure he wants him to.
The reef’s bright colore suggests that Maddy will discover her adult identity in the outside world, not in the contained white environment of her house with Mom. Meanwhile, her sexual interest in Olly (and the fact that he returns the interest) makes it clear that she’s moving away from Mom and the protected world Mom created for her as she continues to mull over how intimate she wants to be with him.
Themes
Olly suggests they jump off a cliff and leads her to the edge. Olly goes first and waves to Maddy. Jumping off a cliff seems like it should be scary, but Maddy thinks that considering what else her future might hold, it’s not so scary. Maddy shares a page from her guidebook about cliff diving, but the text describes Maddy’s experience. She screams, but it’s silent underwater. It feels like being on another planet and then, like she’s a tiny creature in a huge world.
The experience of diving into the ocean like this again mirrors Maddy’s experience of entering the real world. Purchasing tickets to Hawaii is, in many ways, not that different from jumping off a cliff into the ocean. Both actions represent a desire to be a part of the world, and to fulfill that desire in a drastic way.
Themes
