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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
Content Warning: The below contains references to self-harm, suicide, and drug addiction.
The Challenges of Surviving Trauma
Charlie’s young life has not been kind to her, and she enters adulthood carrying a heavy burden. While it is hard for her to face the pain of her trauma, she recognizes that doing so is a necessary part of overcoming it. At first, she believes that when the other girls at rehab endlessly discuss their past trauma, they let it control them, so she chooses to stay silent. However, as she reflects more on her own traumatic past, she is able to work through the power those events hold over her, and she begins to speak again. Every moment of every day presents Charlie with a choice to work toward recovery or to sink into oblivion. In many moments, it is easier and more comfortable to choose the path to oblivion, as Ellis, Louisa, and Riley’s decisions demonstrate. Charlie can follow their example and ignore her challenges, or she can choose to face them, like Linus and Ariel. Working through trauma is difficult, but it offers a long-term reward, like the life Charlie envisions as an artist living in the desert.
However, Charlie’s relationship with Riley and her job at the coffeeshop make it hard to transition to a better future. The demands and relationships of her present-day life are often consuming, making it easier to fall into a life of misery and addiction. It isn’t until she is in Felix’s studio in the desert that the life she wants most seems real. In the novel’s climax, Blue and Charlie are floored by the news that Louisa committed suicide by setting herself on fire, and the event sets off a spiral of self-destructive behavior. Blue returns to hard drugs and Charlie cuts up her entire body, but their shared emotional trauma provides a foundation for rebuilding their lives together. By facing their challenges and making the decision to survive, Blue and Charlie can commit to one another as family, helping them to build a support network that will prepare them to face future setbacks.
The Role of Communication in Healing
Charlie initially uses her silence as a means of protection, but the instinct not to communicate threatens her and others’ ability to heal. At the beginning of the novel, she believes that she can express herself better without using words, which is why she ignores Ellis’s text messages saying she is in pain. Charlie believes that by giving Ellis the silent treatment, she is communicating her own feelings of anger and betrayal. However, had Charlie responded, it’s possible that Ellis would have gotten medical care sooner and would not have suffered brain damage. This is a lesson for Charlie on the importance of communication in healing and trauma. At the rehab center, this lesson is reinforced. While Casper repeatedly tells a silent Charlie that she must share her trauma to heal from it, Charlie watches her fellow patients blather on without ever getting better. This initially teaches Charlie that silence is the better, and safer, option. She would rather sit like Casper’s turtle, hidden within her own shell.
However, importantly, Charlie is discharged shortly after she resumes speaking, while the other girls remain at the rehab center. This is Charlie’s first clue that communication may hold to the key to healing from trauma. The importance of communication in healing becomes more apparent in Tucson, where Charlie must speak to meet her basic survival needs, interviewing for a job and asking for help from local food banks. Slowly, Charlie comes to realize that communication comes in many other forms, including art. As she becomes more serious about her drawing and her friendship with Blue, Charlie explodes at Riley, communicating her past and her feelings, and demanding he listen. When he tunes her out, she realizes that art can be another way to communicate her experiences and heal. In one of the final scenes of the novel, Riley appears to have learned a similar lesson, putting his feelings into words in the song he writes for Charlie.
The Power of Silence
Despite Casper’s advice that Charlie needs to communicate, Charlie finds silence to be not only a psychological necessity, but also a powerful tool for dealing with those who would use her for their own ends. At times, Charlie simply finds life too overwhelming, and she feels that her mouth and throat are filled with rocks, preventing her from giving voice to her emotional turmoil. People find her silence unnerving, which gives Charlie a sort of mystical power over them. Barbero, for example, tries to force her to speak and is shocked at her violent reaction. Evan also teaches Charlie the power of silence in dangerous moments when it is best to be invisible or forgotten. This approach protects her in the attic at Seed House, but the effect is only temporary. Even Ellis uses Charlie’s own words against her after Charlie confides in her about her self-harm. When Ellis chooses to communicate her own pain and regret by imitating Charlie, the results are disastrous and Charlie blames herself for being open about her cutting. When facing Wendy on her drug runs for Riley, and in the end when she walks in on them having sex, Charlie remains mute, giving Wendy zero leverage and also suppressing her pain, allowing herself to dissociate from her enabling behavior. Charlie treats Tiger Dean the same way, refusing to engage when he calls her scrawny and tells Riley he can do better. Her silence becomes an act of rebellion that allows her to maintain her dignity and assert herself.
