43 pages • 1 hour read
Nicola YoonEverything, Everything
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Risk, Danger, and Personal Freedom
At the beginning of the book, Madeline’s life is defined by avoiding risks to her health, which is viewed by everyone as incredibly fragile and worth preserving at any cost. Pauline, Madeline, and Carla all work together to keep her “safely” inside, and Madeline unquestioningly complies with the rules that govern her life. As the book progresses, however, Carla comes to advocate for more freedom and less fear, helping Madeline secretly meet with Olly. She says, “Everything’s a risk. Not doing anything is a risk” (68), an apparent reversal of the philosophy previously at work in the house.
Because Olly represents the unknown, the outside world, and because he exudes a physicality that contrasts with Madeline’s intellectual outlook on the world, Madeline views him as a risk: “He’s the biggest risk I’ve ever taken” (69). Being involved with him, she believes, may lead to sickness and death—physical risks—but also to heartbreak and abandonment—emotional risks. She gradually concludes that the emotional risk of being alone forever outweighs the physical risk of illness or death. In fact, she is exhilarated by the physical “dangers” she undertakes as she leaves home, like jumping off cliffs, getting in the ocean without knowing how to swim, and having sex with Olly. Madeline finds freedom in making her own decisions about safety and danger.
The concepts of risk and danger are questioned by Everything, Everything. Yoon uses Pauline’s mental breakdown during Madeline’s infancy to suggest that the physical danger Pauline focuses on is outweighed by the emotional damage caused by keeping Madeline confined. That such confinement and isolation would have been unnecessary even if Madeline had had SCID makes Pauline’s extreme attempts to protect Madeline even more inexplicable. As Madeline and Olly reunite, the narration is celebratory, which upholds the idea that Madeline finds happiness and freedom by leaving her mother’s ideas about danger and safety behind. Ultimately, the real danger was not the thing Madeline could identify—her supposed illness—but something she could not anticipate—Pauline’s emotional trauma. This renders all her prior worries and caution useless and implies that the risks Madeline takes at the novel’s end are appropriate and healthy.
Teenage Independence and Coming of Age
The theme of teenage independence and maturation is related to the book’s other themes, since both risk and mother-daughter relationships are implicated by Madeline’s coming-of-age journey. At the beginning of the book, Madeline’s senses of risk, danger, safety, health, and self-image are shaped by Pauline, and she relies on and trusts her mother without question. This establishes Pauline as the central authority figure in Madeline’s life (a role that adults generally fill in teenagers’ lives). Carla also serves as an authority figure, helping dictate who and what Madeline can allow into her life.
As time goes on, however, Madeline realizes that Pauline is fallible and makes mistakes, and that she must make some of her own decisions even when they put her at odds with Pauline or Carla. Near the end of the book, as she’s discovering that she’s not sick after all, Madeline rejects the comfort Carla tries to offer her: “I don’t want comforting or protecting. I just want the truth” (270). This journey toward a more independent perspective is a characteristic of the coming-of-age story. The protagonist generally learns life lessons—which can uphold or challenge the values of the authority figure, but are always attained independently rather than passively received—that help them understand the world around them in a new way. In this case, Madeline’s discovery that she’s not sick profoundly affects her view of herself, her body, her mother’s grief over the death of her husband and son, and her relationship with Olly.
Outward markers, such as possessions, often symbolize the coming-of-age journey. For example, midway through the book, Madeline must use Pauline’s credit card to buy more colorful clothes for her wardrobe because she doesn’t have one of her own. She eventually applies for one so she can buy the plane tickets to Hawaii without Pauline’s knowledge, indicating that she’s seeking out independence from her mother and wants to participate in the world as an adult. The credit card allows her to purchase souvenirs and vacation necessities, including condoms—another symbol of her burgeoning adulthood as she embarks on a sexual relationship with Olly. The final possession that signals Madeline’s maturation (and Pauline’s reluctant blessing on her daughter’s journey toward independence) is the cell phone that Pauline gives Madeline. The cell phone represents Madeline’s ability to leave the house and communicate with whoever she wishes in a private way, marking the end of her coming-of-age journey.
Mother-Daughter Relationships
There are three pairs of mothers and daughters in the book who exemplify various types of relationships. Madeline and Pauline begin the book with a close relationship that fractures as Madeline discovers that her SCID diagnosis stems from her mother’s delusion. Because Pauline forbids Madeline from having close contact with others, Madeline and Carla keep Olly’s visits a secret from Pauline, which drives another wedge between them. Madeline notes, “My mom and I are drifting apart, but not because we’re spending less time together. And not because Olly’s replacing her. We’re drifting apart because for the first time in my life, I have a secret to keep” (101). Pauline’s reaction to Madeline’s attempts to experience the outside world is inconsistent. Madeline is grounded when Pauline finds out about Olly’s secret visits, but when Madeline returns from Hawaii, Pauline says that the trip was a learning experience for Madeline because “[s]ome things you just have to experience for yourself” (253). Pauline’s inability to offer her daughter consistent, understandable guidance on dealing with the outside world—and her inability to allow Madeline anything but extreme isolation—complicate her role as an admirable authority figure.
The other two mother-daughter pairs are Carla and her daughter Rosa, and Olly’s sister and mother, Kara and Mrs. Bright. Rosa views her mother with a mix of exasperation and distance that was brought on by Rosa’s puberty: “According to Carla they were really close until hormones and boys took over” (13). Kara, meanwhile, displays a more punk-rock dismissal of her mother’s authority, openly smoking cigarettes in the family’s yard and ignoring her family by texting excessively on her cell phone. Mrs. Bright is submissive to everyone in her family, including Kara, and buries her daughter’s cigarette butts so her husband won’t see them.
All three relationships question the idea of “perfect” parenting that abides by traditional parent-child hierarchies. Pauline’s emotional issues, rather than her good judgment, rule her parenting decisions, and Madeline supersedes her authority by the end of the book. Rosa and Kara do not respect their mothers’ permissive parenting and view themselves as entitled to behave however they want. Madeline’s story of leaving her house may have inspired Mrs. Bright to finally leave her husband, according to Olly. Rather than the adult influencing the child, here a child influences an adult. This upending of traditional relationships reflects Madeline’s questioning of authority throughout the book, and Yoon uses the other mother-daughter relationships to further explore the theme. It is important to note that Yoon intended the female relationships in the book to be strong and positive. In the book’s bonus material, she states, “It was also really important to me that the female relationships be positive. Those relationships are crucial and formative, and I wanted to show some of the joy of that” (“A Q&A with Nicola Yoon”). However, textual evidence suggests that Yoon’s narrative is more complex and nuanced than simply a joyful celebration of strong female bonds.
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