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Chapter 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Finding Audrey, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Anxiety and Isolation
Therapy, Healing, and Recovery
Acceptance, Judgment, and Parenting
Bullying and Trauma
Creativity, Empowerment, and Finding One’s Voice
Summary
Analysis
The Saturday after Anne reads the article about video game addiction, Frank is playing Land of Conquerors with a friend from school named Linus. Audrey remembers Linus from a school play of To Kill a Mockingbird. Linus had played Atticus Finch, and Audrey thought Linus was an excellent actor. Until February, Audrey had gone to an all-girls school near Linus and Frank’s school. But in February, some “not great stuff” happened, and Audrey hasn’t been back to school since. She’s planning to start at a new school in September and has been trying to keep up with her schoolwork at home in the meantime.
This passage begins to introduce the reasons that Audrey doesn’t feel comfortable even in her own home. Namely, some “not great stuff” happened in February that caused Audrey to leave school. That suggests that perhaps Audrey is dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events. Because Audrey is the story’s narrator, her reticence about those events shows where Audrey is in the recovery process—namely, that she hasn’t advanced very far—and suggests that Audrey is not ready to talk about what happened to her because it remains too painful a topic to discuss.
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That Saturday, Anne yells at Frank that he’s played enough video games for the day. Frank tries to argue, but Anne puts her foot down. She tells Frank and Linus that they should do something else and suggests they play a board game. Linus and Frank eventually agree to do that, but a few minutes later, Anne finds them playing a computer game version of a popular board game and starts yelling again. At that point, Linus walks away and goes into the den, where Audrey is. When Audrey sees him, she involuntarily panics and clenches her fists. Linus introduces himself and then asks Audrey if she always wears her sunglasses. Audrey hides behind a curtain and then runs out of the room, saying, “Sorry,” as she goes.
Anne and Frank’s conflict in this passage suggests that Anne’s criticisms of Frank’s passion for video games may not be entirely well-placed. That is, when Audrey encourages Frank to play a board game, she becomes angry when he plays that board game on a computer, even though Frank is doing what she asked him to. That suggests that Anne’s primary gripe might be with technology in general, and perhaps she does not understand a younger generation’s relationship to technology. Meanwhile, Audrey’s reaction to Linus’s introduction shows that she is fearful of even simple, friendly social interactions, suggesting that whatever she experienced at school was highly traumatic.
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Audrey runs up the stairs to her room. She feels like she is “stupid” and that she overreacted. Anne comes to Audrey’s room soon after and asks Audrey what happened. Audrey says she hadn’t expected Linus to come into the den. Anne asks Audrey if she wants her medication, Clonazepam, though Anne won’t say the name of the medication out loud. Audrey takes it to treat her social anxiety disorder, general anxiety disorder, and depressive episodes. Audrey says yes, she would like to take the medication now.
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