Family, Abuse, and Bravery Theme Analysis

In many ways, Everything, Everything is an exploration of family dynamics—and in particular, the many different ways in which family structures can be dysfunctional and abusive, both verbally and physically. By showing how both Maddy and Olly begin to break free of their respective abusive family structures (and in Maddy’s case, discover that her relationship with Mom is actually manipulative and controlling, not innocently close), Everything, Everything suggests that choosing to make the change to free oneself from situations like these is overwhelmingly positive yet also incredibly difficult, and requires immense bravery.

Maddy’s family situation is one formed by trauma and grief. Her dad was the love of Mom’s life, but Maddy’s dad and her older brother died tragically in a car accident when Maddy was only a few months old. Around the same time they died, Mom supposedly received Maddy’s SCID diagnosis, and with the settlement money from the accident, outfitted their home with an airlock and an air purifying system and hired Carla to help care for baby Maddy. Despite the ethical questions that arise given that the book eventually reveals that Mom fabricated Maddy’s diagnosis, the two nevertheless share a close and loving relationship. They’re all the other has, given that Maddy can’t leave the house and that while Mom works outside the home, she still appears to not have much of a social life outside of spending time with Maddy. The image created by Maddy’s descriptions of her home life and of her relationship with Mom suggest that neither she nor the reader should expect anything to change without a major outside force, which comes in the form of Olly moving in next door. As Maddy and Olly grow closer and spend more time communicating over instant messenger, Maddy naturally develops a crush and begins distancing herself from Mom. Again, this shift is normal for any teen to undergo—even if Maddy isn’t, as far as she’s concerned, a normal teenager. Mom’s anger, sense of betrayal, and anxiety surrounding Maddy’s changes, however, reflects something seriously amiss in their family dynamic: the belief that nothing about it should ever change, even as Maddy grows up and enters a new stage of her life. In this sense, Mom resists a change that the novel suggests is inevitable: children will, at some point, seek to distance themselves from their parents and seek relationships, both platonic and romantic, with other people.

Through her friendship with Olly and her observations of Olly’s family out her window, Maddy gets an intimate look at his family, which is dysfunctional in a different way. Olly’s family members, most notably Olly’s mom and dad, resist change, just like Maddy’s mom does. But in Olly’s parents’ relationship, which is abusive, not changing anything has dangerous and scary consequences. Maddy both listens to Olly talk about and bears witness to Olly’s dad hit Olly and Olly’s mom, to the point that Maddy begins keeping a tally of the visible bruises on his mom. Olly explains that while his dad has always been angry, he only became physically abusive (to his knowledge) about a decade ago. Following the first instance of physical violence, he promised to reform, but he continues to verbally abuse everyone in the family on a daily basis and physically abuse his wife semi-regularly. In the course of sharing this history with Maddy, Olly notes that he’s talked to his mom at several points about leaving his dad, but his mom continues to insist that she believes Olly’s dad will change—something that his actions suggest won’t happen. Through the dynamics of Olly’s family, the novel shows how abusers like Olly’s dad rely on family members’ fear of making a change, like leaving, so that they can continue to abuse their victims. While it’s important to keep in mind that leaving an abusive situation like this can be extremely dangerous for victims—and the novel never condemns Olly’s mom for staying—remaining in an abusive situation is still a surefire way to guarantee that the abuse will continue unchecked.

Ultimately, both Maddy and Olly’s mom are eventually able to stand up to those who control them and make necessary changes to improve their lives. Maddy does so by discovering her fraudulent SCID diagnosis, which Mom fabricated as a product of her own trauma, grief, and overprotectiveness. Olly’s mom does so by covertly moving herself, Olly, and Olly’s sister, Kara to New York while Olly’s dad is at work one day. Both choices require intense bravery. Up to this point Maddy has never been in a situation where she had any reason to question Mom’s honesty, making calling her out and seeking testing to confirm her suspicious an exercise in courage at home—in addition to the fact that for testing, Maddy has to navigate the outside world for only the second time in her life. For Olly’s mom, leaving her husband requires immense bravery and a willingness to put herself and her children in potential danger if her husband were to discover her plan beforehand.

In both cases, however, Everything, Everything suggests that the changes that Olly and Maddy’s families undergo as a result of these acts of bravery are necessary, important, and positive. Maddy discovers that she does indeed have a future out in the world ahead of her, while Olly, Kara, and Olly’s mom are finally in a situation where they don’t have to fear for their safety. Through this, the novel makes the case that change within families, especially when it’s either a normal part of children growing and changing or to free oneself from abuse, isn’t a bad thing by any means. It may be difficult for those in the thick of it, but Maddy’s sense of freedom and Olly’s clear happiness once he’s away from his dad are testaments to the power of making these changes.