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
Connell has been spending the summer traveling in Europe with Niall and a friend named Elaine. Helen, his girlfriend, is studying in Chicago for the summer—he talks to her on Skype at internet cafes, enjoying their conversations, even if sometimes it feels awkward to think of things to say. In some ways, he likes the feeling of having Skyped Helen more than the actual experience of Skyping her. But on the whole, dating Helen has changed Connell’s view of relationships. He feels a clarity in their relationship, finding it possible to straightforwardly tell her that he loves her. In each city he visits, he calls her, texts his mother, and writes Marianne an email.
By seemingly all measures, Connell’s relationship with Helen is healthy and rewarding. The fact that he finds it easy to say what he means when he’s talking to her is a good sign that she puts him at ease emotionally, even if he feels a bit shy when they Skype. It appears, then, that Connell has managed to establish a mature, functioning bond with somebody other than Marianne—and yet, he and Marianne are still in touch, suggesting that, despite his healthy relationship with Helen, he’s still unable to fully move on from Marianne.
Themes
Connell’s emails to Marianne are long and detailed. He pores over them, sometimes spending hours of his day thinking about what he’ll write to her the next time he’s at a computer. He likes describing ordinary things that he sees, feeling enlivened simply by the act of writing about his experiences and trying to communicate his thoughts to Marianne. He’s even been writing some short stories, though he has yet to show them to Marianne, who’s eager to read them because she loves his emails so much. Marianne is currently staying in her family’s vacation home in Trieste, Italy. Jamie and Peggy are there too, and soon Connell, Niall, and Elaine will join them.
The joy Connell takes in writing suggests that he likes being able to tease out his thoughts, which he otherwise struggles to articulate. Because he doesn’t have such an easy time expressing himself in conversation, writing is a way for him to tap into his deeper feelings. The fact that he sends such long emails to Marianne is yet another sign that he hasn’t let go of their close connection—to the contrary, he’s actively keeping their relationship alive by writing such thoughtful messages.
Themes
Last April, both Marianne and Connell were awarded scholarships. That night, they were expected to dress in fancy clothes and eat a lavish dinner together in the dining hall. The scholarship has drastically changed Connell’s life. Suddenly, he doesn’t have to pay rent, tuition, or meals, which is why he can afford to travel in the summer instead of working. For Marianne, the scholarship was just a nice “self-esteem boost.”
Once again, the difference in Marianne and Connell’s economic backgrounds comes to the forefront of the novel. The scholarship highlights the different ways they approach the idea of financial stability: Marianne is accustomed to always having enough money, so the scholarship doesn’t change much about her life. For Connell, though, the scholarship opens up all kinds of new possibilities—like, for instance, traveling through Europe instead of working for the summer.
Themes
When Connell, Niall, and Elaine arrive at the house in Trieste, Marianne greets them. She’s in a beautiful dress, and Connell finds himself pleasantly overwhelmed by the sight of her. It feels to him like she’s looking at his face and trying to read it—it’s as if they can sense each other’s emotions. He, for his part, can see that she has things to tell him. He already knows she’ll be gone for the upcoming academic year, since she’ll be studying in Sweden and might not even come home for Christmas. In the abstract, it hasn’t bothered him that he might not see her for a whole year. He even liked the idea of continuing their email correspondence. Now that she’s in front of him, though, he realizes he’ll miss her.
No matter what happens, it seems, Connell and Marianne can’t fully move on from their romantic relationship. Even though Connell is happy with Helen, he’s overpowered by the mere experience of seeing Marianne for the first time in a while. Furthermore, his realization that he’s going to miss her when she’s in Sweden emphasizes just how much he cares about their relationship. Because they’re so close on an emotional level, being apart for a long time is a daunting prospect.
Themes
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The first time Marianne and Helen met was last February. Connell and Helen were holding hands, and though Connell felt horrifyingly awkward, Helen and Marianne spoke effortlessly with each other. Later, Helen asked what the story was with Marianne and Connell, but Connell had trouble talking about it—he just said they had a thing and was hesitant to define it any further. From then on, Helen made a point of trying to befriend Marianne, but she soon tired of this effort because Marianne didn’t seem to care about her. She then started trying to get Connell to say negative things about Marianne, but he never went for it, which annoyed her all the more.
It makes sense that Helen would be jealous or suspicious of Connell and Marianne’s friendship. After all, they have a long history together, and though Helen wouldn’t necessarily know it, they have often prioritized each other over their current girlfriends or boyfriends. Worse, Connell isn’t very communicative when it comes to talking about his past with Marianne, so he fails to give Helen the reassurance she probably wants—reassurance that there’s nothing between him and Marianne anymore.
Themes
It’s common knowledge these days that Marianne and Helen dislike each other. When he thinks about his relationship, Connell still feels good about being with Helen. He thinks she brings out the best in him, and spending time with her doesn’t make him feel out of place or crazed by desire in a way that seems out of his control. With Marianne, on the other hand, he always felt like there was a “wildness” in her that made its way into him.
Connell’s happiness in his relationship with Helen hints at the idea that sometimes extremely passionate connections aren’t necessarily what lead to true contentment. Although Connell and Marianne are very close and love each other in an all-encompassing way, they never manage to make things work, which just leads to pain and heartbreak. Although Connell might not be as passionate about his relationship with Helen, then, he’s at least able to feel happy and at ease with her.
Themes
At the house in Trieste, Connell, Marianne, and the others have dinner outside. They drink wine and talk about their plans to visit Venice. At one point, Jamie—who has been criticizing Marianne all night—makes a racist comment about Asian tourists. Niall calls him out, but Jamie doesn’t show any remorse. To avoid engaging in the conversation, Marianne goes to get the dessert, but when she comes back, Jamie demands to know why she didn’t bring out cream for the berries. Silently, she turns around and goes back inside. Jamie tries to look around the table for support, trying to make it seem like Marianne overreacted. When nobody will look at him, though, he slams back his chair and stomps after her.
There’s some obvious tension at play in Marianne and Jamie’s relationship. Their entire dynamic seems to be based on Jamie’s selfish and entitled attitude—in fact, the racist comment he makes is a good indicator that he doesn’t care very much about other people or about making cruel jokes at someone else’s expense. What’s more, the ominous way he walks after Marianne when she goes inside serves as a reminder of the other unhealthy relationships in her life, since his animosity toward her is not so unlike the hostility that Alan, her abusive brother, shows her.
Themes
A yell comes from inside. Everyone at the table stops talking, and Connell gets up. When he reaches Marianne and Jamie, neither of them acknowledges him. Instead, Marianne asks Jamie to put down the champagne glass he’s holding—she has already told him that the glasses used to belong to her father. “Okay, look, I’m putting it down,” he says, and drops it to the floor. She jumps at him. Connell intervenes and directs her away while Jamie laughs. Steering Marianne outside, Connell takes her away from the house. They lean against a tree, holding each other, and Connell runs his fingers through her hair, feeling her tension unwind.
The toxic, hostile nature of Marianne and Jamie’s relationship comes to the forefront of the novel in this scene. Connell has already sensed that there’s something off about the way Jamie treats Marianne, but now he witnesses some outright aggression. When he intervenes and takes Marianne outside, they share a moment of intimacy that is very obviously charged with feelings left over from their romantic history, and though Connell is dating Helen, he has no problem holding Marianne and feeling the way she relaxes into his touch—a clear sign that they’re still emotionally attached in ways that aren’t totally platonic.
Themes
That night, Marianne sleeps in Connell’s bed so she can distance herself from Jamie. Lying there with her, Connell realizes he could have sex with her and thinks about what it would be like, wondering how he would feel about himself as a person if it happened. At one point, she says she doesn’t know what’s wrong with her, wishing she could be like “normal people.” She tells Connell that her family hates her, saying that Alan told her to kill herself the last time she was home. Connell sits up, angry, and tries to understand why anyone would say something like that. He asks if Alan ever hits her, and she says that he does, though his psychological torments are what bother her the most.
Marianne’s comment about wishing she could be like “normal people” reveals that she’s constantly comparing herself to others. The implication is that she thinks she’s incapable of functioning in everyday life, perhaps because she feels easily upset by the things that happen to her. And yet, the things that happen to her are genuinely upsetting—nobody would handle her life any better than she does, but she feels insecure about who she is as a person, apparently blaming herself for the ways in which other people mistreat her.
Themes
Connell can’t believe what he’s hearing. He wants to know why Marianne never told him that Alan was abusive, and she says she didn’t want him to think she was “damaged.” Connell finds this idea too much to take. He starts crying—hard—and tells her to come to him. Then they’re in each other’s arms and kissing. He feels guilty because he knows he always thought of Marianne as “damaged” in some way. They keep kissing, and he slides his hand to her breast, but then she says they shouldn’t keep going. She pulls away and turns around as Connell feels his breathing begin to slow. “I’m really sorry,” he says, but she just squeezes his hand.
When Marianne opens up to Connell about her brother’s abusive behavior, he feels overcome with emotion. It’s actually a very similar interaction to the one they had in secondary school when Marianne told him that her father used to hit her. Back then, Connell responded by saying—for the first time—that he loved her, though he later wondered if he was ready to say such a thing. Similarly, he now seeks out the physical intimacy with Marianne that he had, until this point, been resisting as they lay in bed together. Once again, then, their emotional connection is so intense and all-consuming that it overrides Connell’s better judgment.
Themes
