Everything, Everything: Escapism With Which Adolescents Can Identify

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A overarching theme of Everything, Everything is escapism. How can one experience the world without ever leaving his or her home? This is a very real question for the protagonist Madeline, who has an immunocompromising disease. Allergic to literally everything, she cannot leave her home. She is forced to interact with people online, and to pass countless hours of isolation, she reads and blogs about books. She has to imagine what life would be like outside of her house, and goes to great lengths to establish this fake life for herself for her sanity. For example, when she receives books to read, which are packed tightly in plastic so as not to expose her to any germs, she writes her name inside of them and makes a list of rewards to anyone who may find and return one of her books, which realistically never leave her home. Her make-believe lists, which are dreams to her, are very basics things like "a walk outside with me (Madeline) just down the block and back" (page 2) and "a short conversation with me (Madeline), discussing anything you want, on my white couch, in my white bedroom" (page 2).

Her escapism includes imaging stories about aliens (page 18) and interacting with an astronaut that doesn't exit (page 59)

Her attention eventually turns to a boy who moves in next door named Olly. She likes to imagine what his life is like. His life becomes almost an obsession for her because he is free and she is stuck in her home. She watches him. She writes, "The more I watch, the more I want to know" (page 25). 

Olly eventually makes contact with Madeline and the two begin talking and form a relationship. Madeline has to decide how and if she can love a boy that she can't touch. I don't want this post to turn into a summary, so I'm going to stop writing about the plot here. (I also don't want to spoil you guys!) I shared up to this point for a reason, however: Madeline's experiences are not unlike the experiences of countless of teenagers across the country and various parts of the world.

This book can become an escape to adolescents who crave socialization and feel alone. They can have someone with whom to identify in Madeline. They can actually empathize with her struggles. I tutor four students this year, and nearly every single time I ask them how they are doing each week, they answer that they are bored. The two days of school they are getting are not enough. I asked a class I teach in Clinical 2 about the stage of life they feel they are in and asked them to list some characteristics, and almost every one of them put "bored." These kids are craving outside experiences. They are craving socialization, just like Madeline. They want to get out in the world and have real experiences so they can figure out who they are and what is important to them. This pandemic may very well be stunting their identity development. It is something to think about, and Madeline is a great character to look at and learn from, even if she is fictional. As an adult reader, I ask myself, is there more we can be doing to help these kids gain some semblance of a normal life so that they do not miss out on these necessary real life experiences they are missing? This book may be a help.

Even though not every kid today has a disease like Madeline is supposed to have, they can understand her struggles. This book can be something they can easily connect to. For that reason, I would absolutely recommend Everything, Everything to adolescents, and I would recommend it to adults to expand their thinking and really think about what kind of life adolescents are facing today.

Comments

  1. Callum CarrOctober 14, 2020 at 5:17 PM

    I'm so glad you saw connections between the events in this book and what is going on in the world right now! I read 'Everything, Everything' several years ago and when I saw that one of the groups in our glass was going to be reading it I was really excited to see what you all do with it. After so many of us have been in our homes for months now, we can start to empathize with Madeline in ways we never would've been able to in the past. I agree with you that this book could help young people today. Being stuck at home for most of the week, limiting the interaction with classmates and friends, has without a doubt impacted the lives of children across the United States, and throughout the world. And while we may not know for years what permanent effects this will have on them, I am sure the events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic will alter their lives forever.

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  2. Candace BeebeOctober 16, 2020 at 8:00 AM

    Todd, I completely agree with you. I saw myself in many scenes from this book. I already knew the story before I read the novel and I didn't realize how much I would relate to Maddy, but as of recently there are times that I have also felt like a prisoner in my own home. Kids today do need socialization, they are ready to get back into the real world and we have to be ready for them when that happens. They are bored, but it's more than that, they lack curiosity, and motivation. They don't care to learn or read and that is a dangerous precedent to set. Even when everything completely opens up, it's going to be a long transition for all of us to get back into the swing of things.

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