Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in There’s Someone Inside Your House, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma, Loss, and Grief
Guilt, Shame, and Redemption
Alienation
Gossip vs. Communication
Inner Change
Summary
Analysis
Chris and Officer Bev run toward Makani. Chris asks where Ollie is, and Makani points toward where she left his body. Darby sobs as the paramedics load him and Makani into the ambulance. Makani knows he’s thinking about Alex. The clock strikes midnight, and it’s officially Halloween. Just then, Makani hears fuzz coming from Officer Bev’s shoulder radio. It’s Chris shouting, “My brother is alive!” Darby motions for Makani to go. Makani barrels out of the ambulance and into the maze. She reaches Ollie and crouches beside him. His eyes open as he says her name. They smile at each other. Makani laughs and kisses his warm skin. Makani holds one of Ollie’s hands, and Chris holds the other. Beneath the warm glow of the autumn moon, they finally feel safe.
That the book ends in the corn maze symbolizes Makani’s completed transformation. When she first came to Osborne, she saw its cornfields as a constant reminder of the mistakes she made in Hawaii, which caused her exile to Nebraska. But after she undergoes a long, introspective process of healing—through inner work, and through the help of her supportive community—the narrative repositions corn to be a symbol of closure, happiness, and safety. In the end, it’s not place or circumstance that shapes a person’s life, but the self-work they engage in and the connections they form.
Themes
