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 and Marianne are on their way home from a party. They spent the night there, and now Connell’s driving them both back. At the party, Marianne wandered into a shed with her friends Peggy and Joanna. She was already quite drunk, but then she drank some more in the shed and listened to Peggy and Joanna talk. Eventually, she drunkenly wondered where Connell was, and Peggy guessed that he must have been upstairs with Teresa, whom he’s been seeing lately. Marianne is fine that he and Teresa are together, though she often finds herself trying to get Connell to complain about her.
Even though Marianne and Connell reconnected when they arrived at Trinity, they haven’t rekindled their romantic relationship. And yet, their feelings for each other clearly lurk in the background of their interactions, which is why Marianne finds herself trying to get Connell to say bad things about Teresa. So although they’re technically just friends, it’s obvious that their connection is complicated by stronger, deeper emotions.
Themes
Conversation in the shed turned to Connell. Joanna said she liked the way he dressed, but Peggy scoffed and spoke condescendingly about his clothes, saying he probably doesn’t even own a suit. When Joanna pointed out that her comment was fairly classist, Peggy didn’t care. Later, Marianne smoked pot with Peggy and then encountered Connell on the stairs. They were the only two people up on the house’s third story. Marianne said she thought Connell was with Teresa, but he pointed out that Teresa wasn’t even at the party. She then asked if Connell likes Teresa better than her. When he said no, she asked if Teresa is better in bed. After some initial hesitation, he said she isn’t.
Peggy’s comment openly acknowledges that Connell doesn’t come from the same wealthy, upper-class background as many of the other students at Trinity—students like Marianne herself. Given that Connell has had trouble fitting in, it’s likely that he’s quite aware of the class disparity between him and people like Peggy or Marianne. On another note, the fact that Marianne asks such blunt questions about how Connell sees her in comparison to Teresa highlights the romantic emotions that exist just beneath the surface of their relationship.
Themes
Marianne kissed Connell and told him she wanted to have sex, but he wouldn’t because she was so drunk. When she asked if that was the only reason he wouldn’t sleep with her, he said yes. Then he told her to go to bed, and she asked him to kiss her—he did, but in an innocent, lighthearted way, and then he went downstairs.
Again, Marianne’s drunken questions illustrate how she really feels about Connell. And Connell, for his part, clearly still has feelings for Marianne, considering that he says he would have sex with her if she weren’t so drunk. Even if he just says this to appease her, the mere fact that he doesn’t want to upset her suggests that he really does have strong feelings for her. And yet, they’re both apparently unable to be forthright about these feelings in normal circumstances, like when Marianne isn’t drunk.
Themes
Still in the car on the way back from the party, Marianne apologizes for her behavior the previous night. She doesn’t want to interfere or make things awkward with Teresa. Connell notes that Teresa isn’t his girlfriend, but Marianne still doesn’t want to mess anything up with their—her and Connell’s—friendship. These days, Connell and Marianne have been hanging out a lot. They like walking through Dublin and chatting, enjoying what it feels like to spend time together in public. Connell sometimes complains about not being able to make friends in Dublin because everyone is so pretentious.
The strange thing about Marianne and Connell’s relationship during this period is that they’re seemingly willing to indulge their romantic bond but haven’t actually started dating. They aren’t full-on sleeping with each other, of course, but their emotional connection has all the characteristics of a romantic relationship: they go on long walks, talk a lot, and simply enjoy each other’s company. Part of why they enjoy spending time in this capacity might have to do with the fact that they’ve never been able to be together in public before, due to the secrecy of their relationship in secondary school. There is, then, a liberating feeling that comes along with the time they spend together in Dublin, even if it’s restricted by their inability to fully commit to each other as romantic partners.
Themes
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After hanging out with Marianne’s friends one night recently, Connell went back to Marianne’s place and slept in her bed. As they lay together, he asked if her friends knew about their history. She said they don’t, though some of them may have picked up on it. She would be a little embarrassed if they found out, not just because of the way Connell treated her, but because she went along with it. He slid his hand into hers and apologized for how he behaved, saying he feels guilty—he often has anxiety about social situations, and he thinks maybe that’s why he didn’t want anyone to find out. But it’s no excuse. Marianne squeezed his hand and forgave him, and they fell asleep with their fingers intertwined.
Finally, Connell apologizes to Marianne for the way he treated her during secondary school. He’s been wanting to apologize for a long time but hasn’t found a way to do it. In fact, the only reason he’s able to apologize is that it comes up somewhat organically in conversation, thus underscoring how hard he finds it to speak frankly and openly about his emotions—the circumstances, it seems, have to be just right for him to come out of his shell.
Themes
After Connell drives her back from the party, Marianne invites him into her apartment. She showers while he eats some breakfast, and then she comes into the kitchen wearing a robe. She walks to him and stands before his chair. He opens the robe and kisses her, at which point they go to the bedroom. After having sex twice, they lie there and talk about how sex isn’t the same with other people, and then Marianne drifts off to sleep.
In some ways, having sex helps Marianne and Connell act on the romantic feelings that have been lurking beneath the surface of their relationship ever since they reconnected at Trinity. In another sense, though, becoming physically intimate doesn’t do much to change their circumstances: they still haven’t defined the nature of their relationship. Even if they’re ethically okay with having a casual, open relationship, but they haven’t even determined that this is what they’re doing. As a result, it's quite likely that they’ll run into some kind of misunderstanding down the road.
Themes
