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
In a transcript from Mom’s session with a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist notes that Mom is able to recount what happened the night that Maddy’s dad and brother died—but she still speaks about it in the present tense. The psychiatrist includes the transcript of what Mom said about receiving the news. Mom talks about how police officers touch their weapons when they’re nervous. The officers didn’t seem to want to share the bad news. When the officer finally told her what happened, Mom found herself with Maddy, who was sick again. Mom wanted everything to stop. She wanted Maddy to stop crying, and she wanted to never see the hospital or death again.
That Mom speaks about this trauma in the present tense suggests that she hasn’t been able to move on from the grief and trauma of losing her husband and son. Seeking help, however, offers hope that Mom will be able to recover and possibly even repair her relationship with Maddy. In the future, it’s clear they would need to form a relationship as two independent adults, not as a parent caring for a child who, by many accounts, no longer needs that intense level of care.
Themes
