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30. Madeline’s Dictionary; Secrets
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 places an order for new tee shirts and shoes. She buys six shirts, each in a different color, and a pair of blue shoes. Maddy makes a list of various measurements: it took Olly’s dad eight minutes to start yelling last night. He made four complaints about the overcooked roast, and Olly’s mom apologized six times. He called Kara a “goddamn freak” for wearing black nail polish twice, and it took Olly’s mom three minutes to take the nail polish off. Olly’s dad accused someone of drinking his whiskey five times and reminded everyone that he’s the smartest person and the only moneymaker in the house several times. Later, it takes Maddy five jokes to make Olly feel better over instant messenger. She sees four cigarettes in the garden this morning and though she can’t see any bruises on Olly’s mom, she’s not sure how many she can’t see.
Again, purchasing shirts and shoes in bright colors is a way for Maddy to start to discover who she is when she’s not wearing white and when she’s not part of the house mentally. Keeping tabs on Olly’s family again allows Maddy to understand the kind of abusive situation that Olly comes from. Her comment about the bruises on Olly’s mom that she can’t see suggests that the abuse is probably worse than a bystander can pick up on, while also suggesting that some of those bruises might not be physical—Olly’s mom could have emotional bruises as well that make it even harder for her to leave.
Themes
