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51. The Hidden World
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Everything, Everything, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
Trust and Lies
Family, Abuse, and Bravery
The Value of Experience
Summary
Analysis
Maddy thinks that strangely, she’s decided she’s willing to die. The sight of Olly crying won’t leave her alone, so she spends her time poring over the photo of herself as a baby. She thinks that since meeting Olly, there have been two Maddys. One lives in books and doesn’t want to die; the other truly lives and doesn’t think death is a bad price for living. Maddy thinks that the baby Maddy in the Hawaii photo is like a god—she’s not sick, has life ahead of her, and is impervious to heartbreak and disaster. The second Maddy knows that her half-life isn’t truly living.
Seeing the abuse that Olly suffers impresses upon Maddy the importance of seeking happiness and connection with him and with others, hence her choice to believe that it’s worth potentially dying to see and experience more of the world around her. The photograph of baby Maddy helps teenage Maddy see that she can embody that person if she chooses to.
Themes
