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 makes coffee in her kitchen in Dublin. She works part-time now while finishing school. Nobody hates her anymore, though people don’t obsess over her, either—she’s just a “normal person.” She brings the coffee to her bedroom, where Connell is still lying in bed. They talk about the night before; Connell got pretty drunk. Marianne says that Sadie has a thing for him, but he doesn’t seem to care, saying she isn’t his type. Marianne notes that she has no idea what Connell’s “type” is, but he refutes this: she clearly does, since he’s not actually as cryptic as she makes him out to be. Connell remains in bed, checking his email as Marianne goes to take a shower.
The fact that Marianne has a part-time job hints that she may have severed ties with her family in the aftermath of Alan bloodying her nose. After all, she has never had to work before, so it’s possible that she now has to find ways of financially supporting herself because she no longer accepts money from her mother. Even if this is the case, though, not much seems to have changed in her daily life in Dublin: she and Connell, at least, appear to have the same dynamic they’ve always had. They’re still close, considering that he’s sleeping in her bed, but they also haven’t defined their relationship, since Marianne tries to sense whether or not there’s anything between Connell and Sadie.
Themes
Marianne spent Christmas this past year at Connell’s house. All of Connell’s relatives saw her as his girlfriend. Then, on New Year’s Eve, Connell insisted that they go to a club with people from their old school. When the clock struck midnight, everyone cheered, and Connell kissed Marianne, saying, “I love you.” It was incredible to be in his embrace while everyone watched, and Marianne was conscious of just how good it felt to be with him. She thought about how it’s impossible to be completely independent from others, thinking that maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. She let herself feel linked to Connell, no longer worrying about whether or not he loved her. She knew he did.
There’s a sense of emotional clarity at this point in Marianne and Connell’s relationship. For the first time ever, they don’t seem to doubt the way they feel about each other. But their relationship is still shrouded in ambiguity—they aren’t technically dating, even if Connell’s relatives think she’s his girlfriend. It’s almost as if they take each other for granted: they can always count on the fact that they love each other, but they can’t count on the idea that they will always be together, at least not in a romantic way.
Themes
Marianne gets out of the shower and comes back into her bedroom in Dublin. Connell is staring at the computer screen with an odd expression. He was accepted into a Creative Writing MFA program in New York. Marianne hadn’t known he’d applied and feels offended that he didn’t say anything, but he defends himself by saying he didn’t think he’d get in. She asks if Sadie knew, and he admits that she did—she was the one who told him to apply in the first place. He really thought he had no chance of being accepted, so he didn’t bring it up.
Things are going well in Marianne and Connell’s relationship, but there’s still a disconnect in the way they communicate. Connell’s failure to mention that he applied to a graduate program in New York spotlights his tendency to withhold important things from Marianne. He probably didn’t want to bring it up because it would force them to talk about the future of their relationship—a relationship that really only thrives in the present, since they can never manage to actually commit to each other in a long-term capacity, even though they’ve had romantic feelings for each other for many years.
Themes
Marianne tells Connell he should go to New York, but he says no. He doesn’t understand why she would want him to leave, but she says it would only be for a little while. Still, he says he can’t go without her—he wouldn’t even be in Dublin if it weren’t for her. She knows this is true and thinks about how different his life would be if they hadn’t been together. In a way, she feels good about the fact that she opened up new possibilities for Connell.
An important aspect of Marianne and Connell’s relationship is that they have grown up together and, consequently, have helped bring each other into adulthood. Marianne, for her part, is responsible for helping Connell broaden his horizons, since he was originally planning on staying close to home and leading a life that would have resembled his life in secondary school. If he’d done that, it’s less likely that he would have earned a prestigious scholarship, traveled in Europe, or gotten into graduate school. Marianne has thus influenced Connell’s entire life in an extremely meaningful way, which is why he can’t imagine leaving her to go to New York.
Themes
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Connell says that he loves Marianne and that he’ll never feel the same about anyone else, and then he says he doesn’t know what to do. If she tells him to stay, he will. She takes a moment, closing her eyes and reflecting on the fact that, if he goes to New York, he’ll probably never come back. And if he does return, things will be different. They’ll never have what they have right now, but that won’t hurt as much as her loneliness used to hurt. He helped her overcome that loneliness—he changed her life for the better, just like she changed his. Thinking about how profoundly people can impact one another, she tells him that he should go to New York—she’ll always be here anyway, no matter what happens.
The ending of Normal People isn’t necessarily a happy one, since Connell and Marianne don’t end up finally figuring out a way to make things work as a couple. In another sense, though, the novel reaches a profound feeling of emotional closure, as Marianne reflects on the many positive things that have come from their relationship. The ending frames their connection not as something tortured and tumultuous, but as a beautiful gift that, despite its ambiguity, enhanced both of their lives—a gift of passion and love that, though unsustainable, enriched Connell and Marianne and helped them become who they are now.
Themes
