71 pages • 2 hours read
All The Bright Places
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Chapters 8-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “Finch”
Finch describes a visit to his father’s new house “in the more expensive part of town” (67), accompanied by his sisters, Kate and Decca. His father is a former professional hockey player who has married a much younger woman, Rosemarie, the mother of seven-year-old Josh Raymond.
Kate, who substitutes for her mother in many ways, has advised her father that Finch was unable to visit during November and December due to his participation in a “study-away program” (69), rather than explaining that her brother was suffering from depression. Delighted with the opportunity to upset his macho father, Finch comments that he enjoys figure skating but is unsure if he wishes to pursue this for a career. While the older Finch displays infinite patience when correcting young Josh Raymond, he is clearly angered when his son announces that he is a vegetarian and unable to eat the grilled meat that has been prepared.
’Upon arrival home, Finch gives his mother a kiss “because she needs it” (71). Kate tells Finch that she has decided to attend college in Denver in the fall, although her brother is aware that she is merely following her “cheating high school boyfriend” (72) to this destination.
Finch tries on various personas with some frequency. His most recent iteration was that of an “‘80s Finch” but this character is discarded when the young man resumes listening to Johnny Cash albums (73). He updates his journal on suicide with a notation regarding death by poisoning. Rifling through the family medicine cabinet, he retrieves thirty sleeping pills that he had stolen from his sister, but eventually discards them out of a desire to be available to help Violet. Subsequently, he and Violet have an email exchange of quotes from Virginia Woolf’s suicide note to her husband. Violet amends their rules for wandering to eliminate travel in bad weather and to require that they walk, jog, or bicycle to their destinations. Violet strikes Finch as “the first person […] who seems to speak my language” (77). He has a nightmare in which he sees her jumping from the school bell tower.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Violet”
Violet hears her classmates gossiping about a post in the Bartlett High School online “gossip rag” whose headline indicates that she had saved a “crazy” classmate from committing suicide from the bell tower. She the “smart girls” who run the legitimate school newspaper express disapproval of the sensationalized reporting, and she realizes that she has far more in common with them than she does with the superficial Amanda Monk. Subsequently, Violet picks the lock on the bell tower and reads Wuthering Heights in the stairway.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Finch”
Finch decides that he will abandon his “‘80s Finch” character, primarily because he feels Violet will find it unattractive. His friends Charlie and Brenda Shank-Kravitz accompany him to the Goodwill store to select new clothing. Brenda advises him that he should dress for himself rather than a girl, while Charlie notes that “[s]he’s never gonna go for him” no matter what he wears (83). Finch adopts a “Badass Finch” persona, buying a used leather jacket and black Beatles boots. He also begins using a British accent. Finch sees this new persona as a powerful character who will rule a “world of compassion, of neighbor loving neighbor […] treating one another with respect” (85). This idealistic image dissolves when he walks into geography class and sees Ryan Cross standing close to Violet. Amanda Monk rudely asks Finch if they can help him, and he responds by telling Violet it is time to start their journey of exploration together. Roamer suggests that Finch climb the tower and jump; Finch allows the group to continue in their belief that Violet saved him from leaping to his death.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Violet”
Violet awaits Finch’s arrival in the school parking lot. She is riding Eleanor’s bike, “Leroy.” Brenda’ threatens Violet, stating, “If you break his heart, I will kick that skinny ass all the way to Kentucky” (89). Finch arrives with his car, but Violet insists that he pick up his bicycle. Upon seeing the inside of his family home, Violet is surprised that it “looks like a regular, ordinary house” (91). Finch questions Violet about her avoidance of cars since Eleanor’s death, noting, “[Y]ou’re afraid to ride in a car but you’ll climb up on a bell tower ledge?” (93).
The pair bicycle to Hoosier Hill, where Finch entertains Violet by mimicking an Australian accent. The hill is unremarkable, and it is marked with a wooden stake in a small pile of stones. Violet realizes that she is attracted to Finch, and he tells her, “[S]tanding next to you makes it feel as high as Everest” (97). He objects to her suggestion to shoot video or collect mementos, urging her to remain in the present, instead. He comments that Indiana must be beautiful to a number of people. The two share a happy, peaceful moment and hold hands as they look around. They leave behind a few tokens, including British coins, a guitar pick, and a keychain, which they place in a fake rock.
The pair return to Finch’s garage to retrieve Violet’s bike. He tells her that he had wanted her as a field study partner primarily because “you smiled at me that day in class” (101). Later that night, Violet sees that Finch has posted a reference to Narnia, a fantasy world created by the author C. S. Lewis. Violet realizes that she has enjoyed this day with Finch more than she has anything in months.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Finch”
Finch enjoys an excellent frame of mind following his day with Violet. When his mother asks him to “[t]ell me what you learned” today, he responds “there is good in the world” and “not everyone is disappointing, including me” (104). He notices that his mother looks “dazed and disconcerted” after dinner and attributes this to the divorce (105), which shattered her sense of self-worth. When he suggests that she rest while he cleans the dinner dishes, she is nearly tearful with gratitude.
Finch misses his nightly run due to freezing rain. Instead, he takes a deep bath and practices holding his breath underwater for long periods. He recalls that the longest he has held his breath underwater is six and a half minutes. He recalls that the author Virginia Woolf, feeling certain that she was “going mad again” (106), had drowned herself by walking into a river with heavy stones in her pockets. Finch emerges from the water sputtering and gasping but feeling no gratification in having survived.
Chapters 8-12 Analysis
The author more deeply analyzes many of the stressors that affect Finch in this section of the novel, including his relationships. In a scene describing the “Weekly Obligatory Family Dinner” with Finch’s father, second wife, and young stepbrother, Finch makes it clear that tension and barely disguised hostility characterizes the father-son relationship. Finch’s father, who is violent and abusive, exists in direct antithesis to his son. Mr. Finch illustrates the degree of his disengagement when he alludes to his son’s involvement in the fictitious “study-away” program that Kate invented to explain her brother’s absence due to depression the previous fall. Additionally, Finch had told his principal that his dad “was killed in a hunting accident” (69); the reader senses that, at least emotionally, Finch’s relationship with his father is already dead. Their interactions seem to thrive on arbitrary behavior: Finch implies that he is gay in order to upset his very traditional parent, while his father is enraged by the young man’s refusal to eat red meat.
Similarly, Finch’s mother, although loving and well intentioned, is unable to fulfill her parental role completely. She deals with their dinner visits to their father by drinking large amounts of red wine and being comforted by phone calls with girlfriends. She is psychically depleted and overwhelmed by her husband’s abandonment and, therefore, is emotionally unavailable and unable to maintain appropriate physical structure in the household. For example, her 18-year-old daughter prepares all the family’s meals in advance, while the chronically depressed Finch is able to hide a large quantity of sleeping pills in the family medicine cabinet without notice. Finch recollects that his sister Kate was the person who cared for him when he was sick with the flu years earlier; nonetheless, he is compassionate toward his mother and attempts to buoy her spirits when he is able.
This section continues exploring Finch’s altruism as well. Despite his own suicidality, he ensures that Violet does not carry through with the self-destructive urge that led her to climb the high school tower. He cajoles her into talking about the death of her sister, Eleanor, and gently desensitizes her into riding in his car as a passenger—something that she had refused to do since Eleanor’s death. Finally, Finch actually feels pity for Ryan Cross, Violet’s popular former boyfriend, who is clearly devastated when she makes a public announcement that the two are no longer a couple.
In these chapters, Violet and Finch engage in word play involving literary references. They exchange quotes from the author Virginia Woolf, who died by suicide, related to both love and death. Violet is enamored of the Brontë sisters’ texts and favors “unruly Emily, angry at the world” (80). The author delves further into Violet’s character in this section. Violet still suffers grief, guilt, and anger due to her sister’s death; however, she undergoes a sea change as a human being. Previously, her concerns were limited to remaining popular and conforming to her peer group. With encouragement from Finch and the help of her own painful introspection, Violet is becoming a more authentic and honorable human being.
The section highlights Finch’s persona adoptions. Where Eleanor adopts her sister’s persona as a memorial, Finch’s attempts to change himself depend on the situation and how he hopes to feel. Finch lacks control over his changeable moods, and these adoptions could be an attempt to find stability. He describes dissociative experiences and a feeling that his connection to reality is untethered. Unfortunately, the frequency with which he changes identity works against his need for constancy and control.
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