Belonging In All The Bright Things By Jennifer Niven

All the bright things is book written by Jennifer Niven which follows the crazy life of two High School students who meet on the ledge of a bell tower at school. Theodore Finch, one of the students on the ledge, was known as Theodore Freak. He was fascinated by the idea of death and he thought of different ways to die each day. However, he would also try to find reasons to live. After that day on the ledge of the bell tower, his new reason to live was Violet Markey. Violet Markey, the other person on the ledge was the complete opposite of Theodore. She was popular and lived for the future. The only problem was that she was aching with grief from the death of her sister in a car accident. Throughout the book they develop a close relationship
However, what is “normal”? Being normal is conforming to a standard whether that be keeping up with the latest styles or hanging out with a certain group of people. Many of teenagers are obsessed with this idea of being normal and fitting in. There life is consumed with trying to find different ways to fit in with certain people. Many teenagers may think that fitting in with certain group of people will help them be who they truly are. But in reality “fitting in is the greatest barrier to belonging” (Brené Brown) Theodore Finch never tried fitting in which is why he was nicknamed Theodore Freak. Fitting in “is assessing situations and groups of people in order to get them to let you hang out with them” and belonging is “showing up and letting yourself be seen and known” as who you really are. (Brené Brown) This is what Theodore did, for example, he wore a cape every day for a whole month. He was free-spirited and did what he wanted to do, he did not care about fitting in he just wanted to belong. But sadly most of the people in his school did not accept him for who he was except for his two friends and Violet Markey. Because of this struggle to fit in and to be “normal” many teens would rather pretend to be someone else than to be
These emotions can bottle up inside which could cause harm to an individual’s emotional and mental health. Adolescents who hide their emotions can feel like there is no way to escape the emotional pain. When teens feel this extreme pain they may think that the only way to end the aching pain is by committing suicide. “Every forty seconds, someone in the world dies by suicide”. Suicide is an action taken to deal with intolerable mental pain, fear or despair that overwhelms an individual. “Suicide is not about a moral weakness or a character flaw”. Suicide was a crutial theme in All the Bright Things. The book started with the idea of suicide by making the first chapter about the two main characters contemplating suicide by jumping off the bell tower. Amanda, who also had suicidal thought said “[i]t feels like there’s no choice. Like [committing suicide] is the most logical thing to do”. But contrary to what many people who suffer with suicidal thoughts believe, there is a way out. Teens who suffer with suicidal thoughts can find help even if they don’t want to. They can also find reasons to live even if this may seem difficult. This is what Finch tried to do. His reason to stay was Violet. But sometimes people are too damaged emotionally and physically like Finch. Finch had to much problems that no matter the good things in his life it wasn’t