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Violet is introduced as a despondent and withdrawn teenage girl who is struggling with feelings of grief after her sister’s death. She is the second narrator of the novel. Unlike Finch, who displays intense mood swings, she does the bare minimum to get by at school and at home and avoids exhibiting any extreme feelings, whether intense joy or overwhelming sadness. It is only her body’s involuntary response to fear that signals to Finch that she is afraid when out on the ledge. 

Violet attempts to assuage her survivor’s guilt by refraining from enjoying or moving forward with her own life. Before Eleanor’s death, words were Violet’s greatest passion, but she does not partake in her love of writing now because it was an activity that she and Eleanor used to share. When Finch encourages Violet to indulge in her passions, first for words and eventually for him, it is her first step toward healing and to learning about her own identity separate from Eleanor’s.

While Violet is slow to embrace her more extreme feelings of anguish, anger, and pleasure, her ability to share herself with Finch, reimagine her relationship with writing, and shift her dynamic with her parents suggests that she will easily make up for lost time. She allows herself to wallow in the powerful feelings that surface while following Finch’s final route, and while she does this mostly by herself, it seems plausible that there will be others in her future with whom she can share her emotions.

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