Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Normal People, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love, Inexperience, and Emotional Intensity
Identity, Insecurity, and Social Status
Miscommunication and Assumptions
Money, Class, and Entitlement
Summary
Analysis
Marianne and Connell are lounging in his bedroom in Carricklea. It’s hot, and Connell is watching a soccer game on television. They went out to a bar the night before, and Connell ended up dancing with another young woman and then going outside with her to smoke. Meanwhile, Marianne talked to Eric, who drunkenly told her that Rob would have wanted to apologize to her for how he treated her in school. Marianne now suggests to Connell that the woman he hung out with has a thing for him, but he brushes off her comment. She also tells him about what Eric said, and he agrees that Rob probably would want to apologize, but she doesn’t feel like that would be necessary—the bullying probably hurt Rob more than it hurt Marianne.
Looking back on her years in secondary school, Marianne is able to detach herself from the painful bullying she experienced. In fact, she was able to detach herself from the petty social hierarchies even when she was still in school, but now it’s even easier because those days are firmly in the past. Any insecurities she might have in her adulthood don’t have much to do with her unpopularity as a teenager, thus emphasizing just how arbitrary and petty popularity really is—an idea that would have been helpful for Connell when he was still in secondary school and sacrificing his own happiness in order to protect his social status.
Themes
Marianne has been living at home for the summer. Alan has a job working for the county council, so he’s not home much. When he is there, he follows her around and tries to get into arguments. Sometimes, Marianne spends her time doing housework because Lorraine no longer works for her family. She also spends time with Connell. They were driving together not long ago when he suddenly said, “You know I love you.” She said she loved him back, and then they just kept driving like nothing had happened.
After all this time, Connell and Marianne are still very close to each other. Moreover, Connell is able to articulate that he loves Marianne. While his ability to say such a thing might seem like a sort of emotional progress, though, their relationship is still ambiguous and undefined—they love each other, but they haven’t actually committed to each other as romantic partners. They thus act like lovers without fully establishing whether or not they’re together in that way. In a sense, then, their confusing arrangement keeps them tied together but doesn’t give them the benefit of a stable relationship.
Themes
Marianne tells Connell that she thought he was annoyed with her the previous night. They had been dancing together, but then he left her to go have a smoke with another young woman. He disputes Marianne’s version of the story, saying that he asked her if she wanted to step outside. She disagrees. They go back and forth a few times about what really happened, eventually deciding that they must have misheard each other over the loud music.
Miscommunication still interferes with Connell and Marianne’s ability to have a smooth, functioning relationship. Of course, it makes sense that they misunderstood each other in this specific context, since the music was loud. Still, though, their confusion is symptomatic of their overall struggle to clearly express themselves to one another. And yet, the mere fact that they manage to sort out the misunderstanding the next day suggests that they are—just maybe—getting a little better about actually voicing their feelings, which enables them to talk through problems instead of just making assumptions about what the other person thinks.
Themes
After a moment, Connell says he thinks things would be easier if their relationship were different. If there wasn’t “this other element to the relationship,” it would be easier for them to be friends. Marianne asks if he wishes they had never been together. He says he couldn’t even imagine that, and then they both agree that when they were together during the first year of college, it was a very happy time. Marianne then admits that she wanted Connell to kiss her while they were dancing the night before. He wanted that, too. He’s not sure how to navigate their relationship, though—it's nice hearing Marianne say affectionate things about him, but he knows their romantic relationship has never worked out in the past.
Connell opens up about his misgivings about his and Marianne’s relationship and all of its complexities. The fact that he’s honest about his reservations, though, doesn’t mean he has a clear idea of what he wants. He notes that it would be easier if he and Marianne weren’t romantically involved, but he also says that he—like Marianne—wanted to kiss the night before. Still, his ability to actually articulate his confusion is surprising, given that he normally withholds his emotions and keeps himself from speaking openly.
Themes
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Marianne is crying. Connell says he has to think about their relationship. She has really helped him through his depression, so he deeply appreciates her and values their friendship. She stands up to leave, but he takes her hand and kisses it. He admits that he’s nervous, saying it must be obvious that he doesn’t want her to go. “I don’t find it obvious what you want,” she says. They start kissing.
Despite his attempt to speak honestly about his feelings, Connell can’t quite make himself clear—and this, of course, is because he doesn’t even know what he wants. Although he thinks his strong romantic feelings for Marianne are “obvious,” Marianne points out that nothing could be further from the truth. Even though he tries to communicate openly, their relationship is so complex and ambiguous that it’s impossible to arrive at any sense of clarity. In the end, their strong romantic feelings rise to the surface, as they start kissing even though Connell just said that it would be better if they had a purely platonic relationship.
Themes
Marianne and Connell start having sex, both of them relieved to finally embrace each other again. It’s passionate and nice at first, and Connell expresses his desire to keep doing it in the future. But then Marianne asks him to tell her that she belongs to him, and he pauses. After a moment, she asks him to hit her, but he can’t. The entire conversation ruins the moment. As they roll away from each other, Connell can tell Marianne is upset. He tries to apologize, saying that he thinks it’d be weird if he hit her. She hears this as him calling her weird, which upsets her even more.
Once again, Connell is daunted by the idea that he has so much sway over Marianne in their relationship. Marianne has said in the past that she would do anything he wanted, but this sentiment has never been something that pleased Connell. In fact, he reacted very negatively the first time he realized that she would gladly prioritize his desires if it would make him happy. It’s overwhelming to have such a strong influence over another person, which is why Connell dislikes the idea of saying that she belongs to him—it’s also why he doesn’t want to hit her during sex.
Themes
Marianne says she’s going to leave and starts getting dressed. Connell wants to drive her home, but he can’t get dressed fast enough—she runs downstairs and out the door. On her way home, she thinks about how she dislikes the person she’s become. Connell clearly finds her repulsive, she thinks, but she can’t figure out how to change herself. When they were in school together, they were both struggling in their own ways. Now, though, Connell has become well-adjusted, whereas she has just become more and more messed up.
Marianne’s self-deprecating thoughts are pessimistic and out of touch with reality. Connell doesn’t think she’s repulsive, but she convinces herself that he does. Her self-hating thought process aligns with her overarching fear that she’s unworthy of love. When Connell first said that he loved her in secondary school, it was a shock to Marianne because she had never felt lovable before, most likely because of her troubling home life. And though she and Connell have maintained a romantic connection in some way or another for many years now, she still struggles with the same insecurity, constantly worrying that she doesn’t deserve his true affection.
Themes
When Marianne gets home, Alan confronts her. He doesn’t want her hanging out with Connell anymore since, according to him, Connell is “fucked in the head.” Marianne tries to say that Connell is doing well, but Alan won’t listen. She slips away and locks herself in her room, feeling all the while like she’s a bad person who has led a sad life and can never change for the better. She’s holding the door shut so Alan can’t burst into the room, but suddenly the door slams open and hits her in the face. Her nose gushes blood, which completely covers her hands when she takes them away from her face.
Until this scene, Alan’s abusive ways have been deeply problematic but not necessarily as glaring or over the top as how he behaves in this moment. Now, though, his threatening presence in Marianne’s family home becomes overwhelming—so overwhelming, in fact, that Marianne doesn’t ignore the incident like she normally tries to do. Instead, she actively attempts to protect herself by closing herself in her room.
Themes
