Mental Illness Representation |
Metaphors in Literature |
A couple of characters in the book suffer from mental illness. Aza suffers from anxiety and having OCD, Davis suffers from depression. Since Aza is the main character, mental illness is seen several times and how she deals with it. She uses the spiral as a way to describe her thoughts and mind when they become out of control.
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Throughout the book, metaphors are used to describe her mind and how she copes with her thoughts. For example, when they were in a tunnel and only had a flashlight she compared the darkness of the tunnel with her mind and thoughts. While the flashlight was her "control" over them and being aware of her surroundings. When the light is shut off it represents her confusion of where everything is and "loses control".
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Finding Support |
Different Kinds of Love |
Since Aza is dealing with mental illness and have trouble sharing what she is feeling. Throughout the book she slowly opens up and starts to accept more help and support from her mom, friends, and therapist. She also gets better at sharing her feelings with people, because in the beginning she would not tell anyone what she is dealing with since she was afraid of worrying them. She learns that she is selfish and never thinks of what other people would feel when she makes decisions.
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Aza struggles to show her emotions and always had. Throughout the book she has several relationships involving love. Love for herself, love for her mother and her love for her, love for her friends, and romantic love for Davis. The love helps her get through life and knowing that unconditional love from other people helps her see the value of herself.
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