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1. The White Room
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 explains that her disease is both rare and famous. She has Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), but many know it as “bubble baby disease.” It basically means that she’s allergic to everything. Her triggers are unknown and Maddy already almost died as an infant. She hasn’t left her house in 17 years. Maddy shares her daily health log with the reader: her mom, Dr. Whittier, records Maddy’s breaths per minute, the room temperature, and the air filter status.
Given Maddy’s health issues, it’s unsafe for her to experience anything of the outside world. This begins to explain why she treasures her books so much, and why they are the only color in her room. Color throughout the novel represents Maddy’s burgeoning individual identity, and at this point, books are the only means by which Maddy can explore as an individual.
Themes
