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Chapter 7
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
Friday, July 15, 1994. Emma continues to maintain a healthy daily schedule. She gets out of bed and accidentally opens the bathroom door on Ian, who forgot to lock it. Emma thinks he got food poisoning from bacon that Emma tried to tell him was rotten, but he thinks there’s just a bug going around. It’s a big day for Emma because her school is putting on a production of Oliver!
Although Emma is still with Ian a year later, the fact that this St. Swithin’s Day opens with Ian having food poisoning on the toilet suggests that the relationship is not a glamorous one. The fact that Ian gave himself the food poisoning specifically by ignoring Emma’s advice is a warning sign for their relationship that shows how they fail to communicate.
Themes
Dexter also has a big day coming up as he gets out of bed. He’s about to film the first episode of his own TV show, a star vehicle specifically for him. A voicemail from Emma wishes him good luck. Dexter’s glad to hear from her but hasn’t been picking up her calls due to an argument they’re having. Emma thinks Dexter doesn’t like Ian, and although Dexter denies it, it’s true. Dexter believes the feeling is mutual. Dexter doesn’t want to admit it, but he might be jealous. He’s also disappointed that her new job has kept her busier and that she won’t be able to come to his premier because of her school play.
This chapter continues to depict a point at which Dexter and Emma’s lives have diverged, although the two of them still think of each other, even if they aren’t communicated directly. Dexter’s dislike of Ian seems to stem from jealousy—something that even Dexter himself recognizes at moments—which is of course hypocritical of Dexter, given how many relationships of his own he’s had without considering how Emma might feel.
Themes
Dexter gets another call that he lets go to voicemail, this time from his father. His father’s behavior has been erratic ever since the death of Dexter’s mother. His father says good luck on the show and that his mother would be proud of him, even though he and Dexter both know that probably isn’t true. His father ends by telling Dexter not to be upset about what the newspapers say. Dexter doesn’t know what this means, and suddenly the stack of newspapers in his room seems ominous.
The novel’s structure of circling back to the same day each year means that pivotal events, like the death of Dexter’s mother, tend to happen in between chapters. While his mother’s death could be something that brings Dexter and his father together in grief, instead it seems to push them apart, making it more difficult for them to communicate and leading to things like his father’s clumsy but seemingly well-intentioned warning about not reading local papers.
Themes
Dexter finds a newspaper, and the headline of an article reads “IS THIS THE MOST ODIOUS MAN ON TELEVISION?” The article calls him “smug” and “inept.” He thinks the critics must just be jealous.
Dexter is used to being naturally charismatic and well-liked, so it’s a shock to read the reviews of critics. The critics perhaps provide evidence of Dexter’s mother’s claim that he isn’t as “nice” as he once was.
Themes
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It’s the night of the play, and Emma has to break up a fight among the students. She lies and tells them that because of the fight, she has to cancel the performance. She says a lot of people in the audience think they aren’t capable of putting on Oliver! She asks about the fight, and it turns out that Sonya, a smart girl playing a peasant in the play, punched a boy who said she was a peasant in real life too. Emma says it was wrong for him to say that but that Sonya can’t hit people. She tells them all the play can go on after all.
Oliver! is a play based on Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist. It deals with issues of class that get dramatized in miniature when Sonya is picked on by the other children for her own lower-class background. While Emma initially judges Sonya for using violence, after she learns more about the situation, she begins to see how what Sonya did may have been justified or at least understandable.
Themes
Emma goes to sit next to the headmaster, Mr. Godalming. He laughs a lot when Emma explains the fight to him. There are rumors among the staff that he shows Emma favoritism.
While Emma has spent much of her life trying to win the approval of people like Dexter. Mr. Godalming is a change for Emma, then, because she doesn’t even have to try to make him laugh or win his affection. Given Emma’s past, the reader might wonder whether Emma is with Mr. Godalming because she actually likes him—or because his easy-to-please nature gives her the instant approval she has long desired.
Themes
Meanwhile, Toby Moray, who plays an irreverent sidekick on Dexter’s show, comes into Dexter’s dressing room. Dexter doesn’t like him much. Toby teases Dexter about the bad preview, then tells him that he’ll happily photocopy all the other bad previews as well. When Toby leaves, Dexter pours himself a drink. He has to spend a whole hour on live TV, so he pours some vodka into the water bottle he’ll take on stage.
This passage shows how even after the death of his mother—or perhaps in part because of his inability to process the death of his mother—Dexter needs alcohol to function. His secrecy about hiding the alcohol so that he can have it on stage with him is typical behavior for someone with an addiction.
Themes
Suki Meadows, Dexter’s co-presenter, comes in to see him. She is always bubbly and sometimes flirtatious, and Dexter feels both personal and professional pressure to form a relationship with her at some point. They head out toward the set, where Toby is warming up the crowd, then suddenly it’s time for Dexter and Suki to come out. It’s only when he’s standing on the set that Dexter realizes how drunk he is. The crowd seems hostile, and he hears someone say “wanker.” Just then, Dexter goes for a drink and realizes that he has a normal water bottle and Suki has his water bottle with the vodka in it.
Dexter is so concerned with conventional measures of success that he rarely stops to think about what he himself really wants. Because, for example, he senses that a relationship with Suki Meadows would make sense and is something that a lot of people want, he figures he should attempt it. This is similar to the lackadaisical way that he got involved in television in the first place.
Themes
Dexter tries to take Suki’s water bottle, but she refuses and drinks it, only to end up coughing and sputtering when the cameras roll. Dexter realizes he has to say something to cover up the awkward dead air, so he makes a joke about the bottle having vodka in it, and Suki pretends to be angry. Dexter gets back on track and introduces the next band coming up. Suki says she’s not mad about the vodka, but he can tell she thinks he’s an amateur who’s losing control of things.
The vodka that Suki drinks shows the futility of trying to keep a secret as big as Dexter’s drinking problem, which was bound to come out eventually. The light-hearted banter on the air contrasts with what Dexter knows Suki must really be feeling, showing once again how the television shows that Dexter is involved with only operate at a superficial level.
Themes
Meanwhile, Oliver! ends to great applause. People in the audience are crying. Sonya is also crying, and she thanks Emma for doing a good job. Mr. Godalming comes over with his wife, who looks bored, but Mr. Godalming is enthusiastic and wants to talk to Emma about her future at the school. Emma and Ian go home after the wrap party to find a large bouquet of roses from Dexter on the table. She turns on the TV just in time to watch Dexter. Although she doesn’t understand much about the show, she’s pretty sure Dexter is doing awful. She leaves a voicemail to thank him for the flowers and lies, saying she thought his program was excellent.
The flowers that Dexter sends to Emma for her play show a level of interest and engagement that Dexter can’t even bring to his own big television debut. While the flowers show thoughtfulness, they are also a showy and possibly impersonal gesture, in keeping with Dexter’s preference for things that are superficially good. Emma’s feeling that she has to lie to Dexter about his show later reflects how the two of them aren’t being honest with each other.
Themes
At the party, Dexter apologizes to Suki again, and she says they’ll have to talk about it later. She says he can make it up to her by buying her dinner somewhere expensive next Tuesday. Dexter has plans with Emma but figures he can cancel.
Suki’s willingness to forgive Dexter’s mistake suggests that for all the failings of his debut show, it may still be in Suki’s interest to be on Dexter’s good side, showing how Dexter’s status as a famous presenter allows him to avoid facing the consequences of many of his actions.
Themes
