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49. Later, 9:08 P.M.; Madam, I’m Adam
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
A week later, Maddy startles awake at three a.m. She can see that all the lights are on at Olly’s house and hears a door slam. Olly stumbles onto the porch like someone pushed him, and Maddy wants to comfort him. Olly waits until Olly’s mom joins him outside. She tries to touch him, but he jerks away. She goes back inside and as soon as he’s alone, Olly begins to cry. He looks at Maddy’s window and Maddy waves, but she realizes he can’t see her since her light is off. She runs to turn it on, but he’s gone when she gets back to the window. She feels like she’s never wanted to get out of her skin more.
Witnessing Olly crying impresses upon Maddy that in many ways, Olly is also quite lonely. He’s not fully able to trust his mom, since she won’t leave his dad and puts them all in danger because of this. He certainly can’t trust his dad, and it’s unclear how close Olly and Kara are given Maddy’s limited view of the family. Seeing this shows Maddy that she and Olly are more alike than she thought and propels her to her next, drastic choice.
Themes
