49 pages • 1 hour read
Abby JimenezYours Truly
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A 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
Love Shows Up
Jacob and Briana both come to their relationship with baggage from previous relationships. Jacob was hurt in his relationship with Amy when she refused to make allowances for his anxiety disorder and appeared to purposely ignore his needs to maintain her own social life. This hurt was compounded when Amy fell in love with and became engaged to his brother, Jeremiah. Briana was married for 10 years to a man who was in love with another woman during the majority of that time. The end of her marriage then brought up memories of being abandoned by her father as a young child and having to help her mother raise her younger brother.
Briana finds it impossible to trust Jacob based on her past experiences, and she pushes him away. Several times in the novel, Jacob turns to his mother for advice on Briana, and she consistently tells him that love shows up, meaning that when people love each other, they are there for each other, no matter what. Jacob takes this advice and shows up for Briana at Grant House, and it leads to the trip to Grant House where Briana admits her love for him for the first time. Later, it leads Jacob to refuse to give up on Briana when she pushes him away, even offering her insight into his deepest thoughts and emotions through his journal to show her how committed he is to their relationship. Not only this, but after they admit their love for each other and become committed, he also continues to show up by changing his last name to Ortiz and becoming a stay-at-home dad to their daughter.
Just as Jacob shows up for Briana, Briana shows up for him. She takes the time to understand Jacob’s anxiety disorder and figure out how to make him comfortable in most social situations. Briana agrees to pretend to be Jacob’s girlfriend with his family based on his need for her assistance rather than out of a sense of obligation or because of her budding feelings for him. Briana goes out of her way to give Jacob information he needs to visit her at Grant House even though she’s hurting from the fight she overheard between him and Amy. Briana and Jacob’s willingness to go out of their way for each other provides a strong foundation for their romantic relationship and shows them both that their previous relationships need not define them.
First Do No Harm
As doctors, Briana and Jacob took an oath that they will never cause harm to a patient. As friends, they make the same promise to each other, promising to “be harmless” to each other, just as Briana once encountered a bear and felt that “the bear and [her] agreed to be harmless to each other” (27). This comparison shows how traumatized Briana is by her failed marriage; she sees a romantic relationship as a fight that could end her life with little effort. Briana’s past trauma makes it difficult for her to trust anyone, especially men. Ironically, the guise of a fake relationship makes it possible for Briana to be vulnerable with Jacob in a way she couldn’t be otherwise.
As the novel progresses, Briana and Jacob continue to attempt to “be harmless” to one another, but their fake relationship becomes complicated when they fall in love. Briana struggles under the belief that Jacob is still in love with Amy, a situation that is too close to the infidelity she endured at the end of her marriage. Jacob labors under the idea that Briana is only with him because she is grateful he’s donating a kidney to her brother and then the idea that she is interested in another man, a friend from her childhood. These misunderstandings are not harmless, and they cause emotional pain to each character.
At the same time, Briana sees how Amy’s disregard for Jacob’s anxiety disorder hurt him. She therefore goes out of her way to help him in social situations and encourages him to spend time with her one-on-one instead of in loud clubs or busy restaurants. At the same time, Jacob refuses to give up on Briana each time she pushes him away, sticking by her through all her struggles to show her that not all men abandon the women they love. By doing these things, Jacob and Briana keep their promises to not to harm each other while also helping to heal past hurts.
When Briana and Jacob finally share their true feelings and become a real couple, the reality of a pregnancy pushes Briana back into her trauma response, and she leaves Jacob. Briana never wants to be in a position where she has to trust a man not to hurt her again, and she believes the best way to protect herself is to end the relationship before it can leave her devastated by betrayal. Briana breaks her vow to be harmless to Jacob by doing this but underestimates his devotion. In the end, they make their promise to be harmless part of their wedding vows, a decision that underscores their love, care, and respect for each other.
Anxiety Within Relationships
Jacob has an anxiety disorder that causes him to be uncomfortable in social situations and can sometimes lead to a panic attack. Although Jacob shares this diagnosis with those around him, certain characters underestimate how it affects him and don’t take it into account when planning social events. Jacob recalls how his ex-girlfriend, Amy, would often arrange for them to meet at new restaurants and loud clubs, places where he would become anxious and often need to leave early. Amy disregarded Jacob’s feelings during their relationship, accusing him of being purposely difficult or refusing to be social. Amy even arranged a surprise party for Jacob, creating a social nightmare for him and showing a lack of understanding of his feelings.
When Jacob begins working at Royaume, the staff thinks he is standoffish and unfriendly because they don’t know about his anxiety disorder. Even Briana finds him bossy and dislikes him at first. However, as Briana gets to know Jacob, she recognizes the misunderstandings that led to her poor first impression of his personality. Ironically, it is also Jacob’s anxiety that allows him to eventually break the ice with Briana by writing her a letter to apologize for his actions. Although he writes the letter because it is easier for him than apologizing to her in person, the written word also becomes a way for them to be more vulnerable with each other and thus build a deeper connection. As Briana learns more about his anxiety disorder, she becomes sensitive to his needs and helps him through social situations by making accommodations for his anxiety. Even before they engage in their fake relationship, she asks him to lunch in the sob closet rather than the busy, noisy cafeteria. After they begin their fake relationship, she gives him code phrases before social engagements to give him a way to take a few minutes to himself when his anxiety rises.
Whereas other characters view Jacob’s anxiety as childish, exaggerated, or inconvenient, Briana simply sees it as a neutral fact to be taken into account when making plans. Her understanding, sensitivity, and lack of judgment help him to feel more comfortable in social situations, and over time, his anxiety lessens. In this way, Briana serves as a foil to Amy, and her relationship with Jacob serves as an example of how to support a friend or partner with anxiety.
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By Abby Jimenez
