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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Content Warning: The below contains references to self-harm.
Modes of Communication
People respond to and heal from trauma in different ways, but as Casper emphasizes to the girls in the rehab center, communication is critical. The girls are encouraged to share their stories and talk constantly, but Charlie remains silent. Every telephone call to the reception desk is an exciting event for the girls, who yearn to connect with people beyond the center’s walls. Evan and Dump relay a message for Charlie through Doc Dooley, an event that rekindles her desire to draw, a form of communication in itself. Charlie’s recovery doesn’t gain momentum until she begins communicating, at first through speech and then through art. She is not alone in using art as a method of communication. After the death of her son, Ariel rapidly produces a flurry of paintings depicting her grief and guilt. Recognizing Charlie’s artistic streak, Ariel encourages her to express her feelings through her art. Part of Charlie’s failure to connect with Mikey is rooted in her inability to communicate with him, and in his own silence about important details of his life. When Riley shows an interest in her, Charlie opens up to him, which makes her feel more connected to him. Blue’s extroverted personality and her easy communication with Charlie demonstrate the value of human connection. For her, the most important challenge to overcome is continuing to communicate, even if she wants to silence herself.
Heat
Despite the frigid Minnesota weather, heat repeatedly emerges as an indicator of Charlie’s emotional state. In group therapy sessions, Charlie thinks about her self-harm as driven by a need to cut out the “black heat” from her body. A similar heat emerges in Charlie’s face or stomach when she feels embarrassed, anxious, or angry. When Charlie’s bandages are removed, her skin feels hot and itchy, a sign that her body is healing. Upon her release from rehab, her peacoat is too warm, but the heat it holds brings her comfort, so she refuses to remove it, even after she arrives safely in Mikey’s studio in Tucson. As her desire for Riley increases, Charlie feels the heat surge inside of her until it is so unbearable that she goes to his apartment for sex. She finds Tucson’s heat stifling, but she wears overalls and long sleeves to cover her scars. This also comes to represent a shift in her thinking. Instead of trying to cut the heat out of her body, she recognizes it as something outside of her that she is able to cope with, as Casper had advised.
Music
Charlie grew up listening to music with her father, who used it to soothe his soul or to fuel his melancholy. Sometimes the music allowed them to connect with another, as when he would hold her close in his rocking chair, but sometimes the music darkened his mood, and then he would shut Charlie out. When she is still at home, she and Mikey bond over the punk music they prefer to Ellis’s alternative music. Their interest in less popular bands brings them together, and Charlie sees it as a sign that they should be a couple, despite his love for Ellis. At the coffee shop, Linus teaches Charlie to choose music based on the mood of the customers or the staff. Finally, Riley’s background is in music, his preferred mode of communication. Charlie doesn’t see him practice to his full potential until the benefit concert, where he uses the music to make amends and apologize to her.
