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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Coming of Age

Throughout the novel, both Violet and Finch undergo parallel but distinct coming-of-age journeys. Two deaths bookend Violet’s story—that of her sister and that of Finch. With the first, any vestiges of the safety and security of Violet’s childhood shatter the instant that the accident occurs. She becomes the sole focus of her parents’ expectations but stops setting goals for herself. By refusing to get in a car, she limits what she can do physically and ultimately stunts her own emotional growth. Learning that such painful things can happen in the world is an awakening that Violet does not seek out, and she doesn’t seek Finch out either. Their pain, however, brings them both to the ledge.

In between these tragic events, Violet learns to trust Finch with her emotional and sexual power, aspects of herself that she has only just begun to understand. She kisses Finch on the day they meet but later waits for him to kiss her once she realizes that she wants him to. She comes to trust her emotions as well when she allows herself to pursue her magazine even while Finch is missing. After his suicide, she is able to hold his memory close to her and simultaneously look forward to the rest of her life, a very adult trait.

The Struggle to Survive

The theme of struggling to survive not only informs how Finch and Violet view themselves and their beliefs, but how they interact with the world. Humans were built with the instinct to survive, and the fact that Finch and Violet are able to do so even when they feel like giving up is a testament to that innate drive. Living with a mental illness has left Finch feeling alone and misunderstood. Because of this, he hides the full extent of his problems when he becomes suicidal. However, his relationship with Violet allows him to temporarily shift focus away from himself, and their journeys together and the itinerary that he creates for her give him a reason to hang on and hang in there for a while longer. By the time Finch ends his life, he has exhausted all of the coping mechanisms that he can personally conceive of, and his illness does not allow him to believe that anyone else can help him. Even in the midst of his struggle, Finch has the insight to know that his death will grieve Violet and he manages to set out clues for her that will send her on a journey to give her the strength she needs to survive without him.

Violet does not seek death after her initial trip to the ledge, but she does struggle to fully embrace her life or make sense of it. While her mental health issue is a short-term response to a traumatic event, it doesn’t make it any less profound than what Finch is going through. Violet’s grief after her sister Eleanor’s death allows her to passively opt out of various obligations. It does not, however, prevent her from showing up in the first place. After counting her days and going through the motions, Violet eventually internalizes the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other and starts running toward her life, not away from it. 

The Support of Family and Community

Finch’s mental illness was the direct cause of his death, but none of the adults in his life took serious action to identify or assuage his illness, despite his erratic behavior and his occasional acts of violence. Although Ted Finch was not the direct cause of his son’s mental illness, he did create the toxic family dynamic that allowed it to go utterly without notice. Just as his family unit lacked an empathetic father, Finch’s counselor lacked either the training or the fortitude to ask Finch the tough questions that might have saved his life. His close friends provided him with emotional support, but Finch kept them at arm’s length, never confiding in them about his suicidal thoughts, and they lacked the maturity to take the right steps to help him. As Violet gets to know Finch, she is disturbed to realize that no one else seems as concerned about him as she is. Finch’s family and community’s failure to take his odd behavior seriously (or in the case of his family, to notice that he’s behaving oddly at all) creates a situation in which Finch is able to slip into depression, disappear, and then commit suicide without anyone fearing for his safety or taking his behavior seriously enough to get him the help he needed.

If Finch had the same level of family support as Violet, he might have survived his mental illness. When Violet finally reaches out to her parents, the two adults capable of helping, to point out Finch’s need for help, it is too late. Violet’s family unit was also broken, though through accidental circumstances. Violet’s parents worked hard to keep up appearances and their spirits for Violet’s sake, but they did persist in confronting her when her behavior concerned them, even when it was difficult for them to do so. This persistence allowed them to finally grieve Eleanor’s death as a family, and to support Violet in the aftermath of Finch’s suicide. If they had realized sooner that Finch presented more of a threat to himself than to their daughter, their empathy might have driven them to provide the family support that Finch desperately needed.

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