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Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in One Day, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Relationships and Time
Social Class
Coming of Age and the Search for Meaning
Addiction and Recovery
Summary
Analysis
Sunday, July 15, 2001. Emma waits for Dexter by the train station in Paris. She tried to get a short haircut in Paris that would make her look more like a novelist. At last, Dexter gets off the train and hugs her, complimenting her new look. Dexter makes an awkward joke about how his own new look is “Fucked-up Suicidal Divorcee.” Emma offers to take Dexter on a scenic walk she’s planned out.
This chapter sees Emma’s life continue on its upward trajectory as Dexter’s continues its decline. Despite Dexter’s supposedly desirable marriage to Sylvie, things quickly fell apart, ultimately ending in divorce. His casual jokes about suicide highlight his dark frame of mind in this moment and his struggle to take things seriously. Meanwhile, Emma’s persistence has helped her overcome her initial failures in her creative pursuits.
Themes
Dexter tells Emma she looks beautiful and that Paris suits her. She suggests getting wine, but Dexter says he quit drinking about a month ago, just unofficially, not as part of Alcoholics Anonymous. They go to get coffee instead, and Emma notices at the table that Dexter has a copy of her novel, the first in a young adult series about a teenager named Julie Criscoll. He says he read it on the train and really likes it, even though it’s a children’s book and he’s not quite the intended audience. He asks her to autograph it, and she does so while he uses the bathroom. When he gets back, she says not to read her note until she’s not around.
Dexter’s decision to quit drinking show how he is beginning to recognize the problems that his addictions cause in his life. Meanwhile, Emma’s young adult series brings together many of the different aspects of her life, as she finally finds an outlet for her writing and also a way to apply the interest in children that she developed in her earlier in her life, when she was teaching and involved in theatre productions for children.
Themes
Dexter tells Emma about his divorce and about how Sylvie and Jasmine have moved into Callum’s mansion. Dexter has no job at the moment and is renting out his old flat to get by. He continues about all the things that have gone wrong, and Emma says Dexter needs to start by feeling less self-pity. She says all things considered, he still has a pretty good living situation compared to a lot of people, even if he feels like his life is over. She thinks he just needs confidence again. Dexter says the worst part is he misses Jasmine and only gets to see her once every two weeks. But he apologizes for being so morose and says he won’t be that way all weekend.
Emma’s speech to Dexter about how he needs more self-confidence is similar to the types of speeches that Dexter himself once gave to Emma. The two of them understand each other because in spite of their many differences, they have experienced similar things, albeit at different times in their lives. Emma’s reminder that Dexter still has a pretty good life shows how Dexter has taken his privileges for granted, something that Emma, who worked several menial jobs earlier in her career, won’t forget.
Themes
Emma leads Dexter back to her flat and talks about how the protagonist of her book series goes to Paris, so she’s technically doing research in the city. The first book did well and might even become an animated TV series. Outside her flat, she warns him that the place will be modest. They go in, and Dexter notes that there’s only one bed. Emma pours herself some water, then while she’s drinking it, Dexter starts kissing her. She motions for him to pause, and she swallows. She tells him she’s met someone in Paris and has a boyfriend, Jean-Pierre Dusollier.
In an ironic twist, it is now Emma instead of Dexter who is involved in making television with a youth focus. This reinforces how Dexter and Emma’s lives intertwine, sometimes intersecting and other times diverging. Dexter’s decision to kiss Emma when she’s in a relationship again underscores poor timing as a main factor that has kept apart.
Themes
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Dexter says he’s happy Emma found someone, but she accuses him of being patronizing. She also gets mad when he teases her about how French the name Jean-Pierre Dusollier sounds. Dexter says he’s not being aggressive, he just wishes he’d known about Jean-Pierre so that he could have booked a hotel to stay at. Emma says he’s welcome to have her place while she sleeps at Jean-Pierre’s.
Dexter’s jealousy toward Emma and her new relationship parallels the earlier wedding scene when Emma wound out that Dexter was engaged and soon to be a father. Dexter has to face the rejection that for so many years kept him from expressing his real feelings toward people.
Themes
Dexter is confused and says he thought the whole reason Emma invited him was to talk about the night they had sex recently. Emma says it was just one night and asks if Dexter is jealous. She thinks it’s ironic that he of all people would expect her to wait for him and be monogamous. She says when she and Dexter got together, they were both a little drunk.
Several years ago, it was Dexter who suggested that he and Emma should just have a casual fling. Now, ironically, it is Dexter who wants to place more meaning on their relationship and Emma who says she wants to keep things casual.
Themes
Emma finally agrees to talk about that night. She says that she thought Dexter only came over to her because he was upset about how things turned out with Sylvie and he needed comfort. Dexter says for him, it was more than that. He says he wanted to try a relationship and thought she always did too. She says she did, back in the late 1980s, but now she’s met Jean-Pierre, whom she really likes.
This conversation shows how Dexter struggles to accept that people and circumstances have changed. He wants to believe that Emma will always love him and want a relationship, but she reminds him that it’s not 1988 anymore, and both of them have changed.
Themes
Dexter asks if Emma enjoyed their night together. She says yes, but she wishes this conversation had happened eight years ago. Now, Emma just feels like a consolation prize. Dexter says Emma is wonderful, and he wants to treat her that way now. She tells him Jean-Pierre will be at the flat in 20 minutes, and she has to shower before then so they can all go out to dinner. They plan to take Dexter to the bistro where Emma and Jean-Pierre met.
Dexter and Emma talk openly about their feelings for each other for perhaps the first time in their lives, where before they tended to follow elaborate rules or use sarcasm in order to feign indifference and avoid being vulnerable around each other. Their ability to speak openly now shows how each has grown up and gotten a better sense of what they are looking for in a relationship.
Themes
While Emma showers, Dexter wonders if maybe he is only coming to see her because he feels lonely and disappointed about his divorce. She gets dressed to go out, then stays in her room looking at a French/English dictionary. He hears a phone call, and Emma talks to Jean-Pierre in French. Dexter asks Emma when Jean-Pierre is coming, but she says he isn’t coming after all. She told him she had tonsilitis, having to look the word up in French. Emma and Dexter start to kiss. She pauses, however, and warns Dexter that if he leads her on or cheats on her, she’ll murder him. He promises not to.
As this passage reveals, Emma still liked Dexter and her real concern all along was that he wasn’t ready to be serious and would only lead her on. By kissing Dexter, Emma accepts the risks that a relationship with him could involve. Meanwhile, Dexter himself takes on risks as he begins a relationship with someone he cares about rather than just someone to distract him from his other problems in life.
Themes
