All The Bright Places

On Easter Sunday, Violet and her parents drive to the scene of Eleanor’s accident. She notices the license plate from her sister’s car embedded in the ground, encircled by flowers, and realizes that Finch is responsible for this memorial. Violet starts talking to her parents about Eleanor and recounts the good times they enjoyed together. Upon her return home, she contemplates her new magazine and adds a quote to her idea wall: “Germ Magazine. You start here” (322). 

Her concern about Finch is replaced by anger and her sense that their relationship was not sufficient to keep him from leaving. She packs away the few mementos she has of their time together and grows out the unattractive bangs that she wore in an effort to resemble Eleanor. On April 11, Violet uses her mother’s car to complete the wanderings required for the geography project and imagines Finch congratulating her on being brave enough to drive a car again.

Violet agrees to have dinner with Ryan Cross “but only as friends” and enjoys the normalcy of their conversation (325). Amanda asks Violet to spend time with her, and the pair join Brenda and the rest of the Germ staff at the Quarry. In a private conversation, Brenda says that Finch’s decision to leave was not Violet’s fault. Violet realizes that Brenda, whom she would have considered a social pariah in the past, is now her closest friend. 

Mrs. Finch, looking haggard, visits the Markey’s house and asks whether Violet has heard from Finch. He failed to make his weekly check-in with her the day before, and he had sent her an email recalling happy times from his childhood and telling his mother and sisters they are “one of the best there is” (327). Violet finds a Facebook message from Finch containing a Virginia Woolf quote, “‘I am arrayed. I am prepared’” (328), which has an air of finality. Finch also sent messages to Brenda and Charlie that sound like farewells. 

Violet drives to Finch’s house and discusses the emails with Kate. Violet learns that Finch had received an early acceptance from NYU. The pair realize that Finch had erased the voicemails from the psychiatrist Mr. Markey had asked to call the family home. 

Violet searches Finch’s room for clues to his whereabouts. She studies his closet, “a black hole. He went inside and disappeared” (331). Finally, Violet makes selections from his word wall and composes the sentence, “Go to the waters if it suits thee there” (332), a line from the ancient Vedic hymn that Finch quoted to Mr. Markey. 

Violet brings Mrs. Finch to the bedroom; she is unaware that Finch painted it blue. Violet points out a line written on the inside of the closet: “There was nothing there to make him last a long time” (333); his mother notes that Finch said this when the cardinal died. Violet believes that Finch has gone to a place with water, and his mother asks her to find Finch and return him home. 

En route to find Finch, Violet feels responsible for whatever has happened to him because she was disloyal “by talking to my parents and betraying his trust” (334). She finds Finch’s car, Little Bastard, parked on an embankment and fights the urge to drive away. On the bank, she finds his neatly folded clothes, removes her coat and shoes, and dives under the water repeatedly. She knows that he is gone and dials 9-1-1 for help. The sheriffs find Finch’s body, “swollen and bloated and blue” (337); Violet calls Mrs. Finch, who lets out a “low and guttural and terrible” sound (338). Eventually, Finch’s father identifies the body. 

Violet dresses in Finch’s black T-shirt for the funeral. She refuses to allow her parents to accompany her, because they are “hovering too much” (339). She realizes that they are not angry with her, but “they’re furious with Mrs. Finch, and probably Finch too, although they haven’t said so” (340). 

The Finch family, Finch’s friends, and many other students attend the service. Roamer and other students who referred to Finch as “freak” are grieving conspicuously and falsely. Violet feels the same is true of the Finch family. 

The preacher avoids the word “suicide,” calling Finch’s death an accident because there was no note. Violet wonders if it is at all possible that Finch was merely trying to find the bottom of the Blue Hole rather than kill himself but realizes that she will never know. She rails in her mind at Finch, reminding him that he lectured her on not wishing her time away and reminding him that she still is grieving the loss of her sister, Eleanor. Brenda wishes that Finch were in “some other world, better than this” (342). Mrs. Finch holds Violet in an emotional embrace. When Mr. Finch hugs her, Mr. Markey pulls his daughter away and curtly states, “I think we’ll take her home” (343).

Violet sits in her own bedroom closet and experiences conflicting emotions about Finch, ranging from “I hate you” to “I let you down” and “I wish I could have done something” and “I love you” (343-44). 

Violet is angry when students build a shrine to Finch at school containing tributes declaring their love for him. She wants to tear these up and “put them in the pile with the rest of the bad, false words” (345), just as Decca Finch did when she cut negative words out of books. Violet cries a few times about her loss, but she usually feels numb and “hollowed out like a shell” (346). 

Violet tells Ryan Cross that she only wants to be his friend rather than a romantic partner, but she realizes that he does not want to touch her, anyway, due to a “suicide-by-association phenomenon.” Amanda Monk approaches Violet, Brenda, and other friends of Finch at lunch to express her sympathy, to apologize for calling him a freak, and to tell them that she broke up with Roamer. Brenda, visibly angry, replies, “Too little, too late” and leaves the group (346). 

The school principal mandates Violet meet with a school counselor; she requests Mr. Embry because he worked with Finch. The counselor states that Finch was a “good, screwed-up kid who should have had more help” and tells Violet that he feels responsible (347). Violet is certain that she is the one responsible for Finch’s death, and he responds that suicidal individuals often go to great lengths to disguise their feelings. He tells Violet that her emotional survival will be contingent upon how well she copes with the aftermath and counsels her to read a handbook for survivors of suicide and talk to him, her parents, and her friends. He reminds her that she cannot feel responsible for everyone, “not your sister, not Finch” (348). Violet does not tell the counselor that she sees Finch everywhere around her, although she wonders if this is a normal reaction. Later, she reads the booklet, which advises her to accept her life with changed circumstances and understand that she is “forever changed” (349). 

Violet shares the booklet with her mother, and her father tries to discuss her college choices. She senses his relief when she ends the conversation and realizes that he does not really want to talk about Finch or Eleanor. The principal arranges a school assembly that features a presentation by a martial arts expert as well as a film about the consequences of drug abuse. Charlie tells Violet that a rumor is circulating, indicating that Finch used drugs, but she and his friends know this to be false. Violet leaves the seminar to vomit when the film includes a scene involving a teen overdose; she meets Amanda in the hallway and asks what prompted her temptation to commit suicide. Amanda replies that she felt worthless and believed there was no choice. She tells Violet that Finch “was trying to fix himself because of you” (351), but this revelation merely accentuates the young woman’s grief.

Mr. Black, the U.S. geography teacher, reminds his students that their projects are due soon. He talks to Violet privately and tells her it is acceptable to submit an incomplete project due to Finch’s death, but she replies, “Thanks, but I’m okay” (352). She reviews Finch’s Facebook messages to her and writes a missive titled “Letter to Someone who Committed Suicide” in the notebook they kept about their wanderings. She asks, “Would I have been able to talk you into staying or talk you out of doing what you did? Or would that have happened anyway?” She also thanks Finch for saving her life (353). Afterward, she looks at the map that they used on their trips and sees that Finch left notations with directions to places that she should visit independently. 

Violet travels to Milltown, Indiana, where there are trees from which hundreds of pairs of shoes are suspended. She hangs sneakers worn by Eleanor and herself. Violet looks at the highest branch of a tree and sees Finch’s shoes hanging from it. Reviewing her texts, she sees that Finch had sent her a text reading, “I am on the highest branch.” The next text reads, “We are written in paint” (357), and gels with the next coordinate marked by Finch on their map, “The World’s Largest Ball of Paint.”

Violet drives to the attraction, which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The owner explains that the enormous ball hanging in his barn is the product of thousands of coats of paint applied by visitors over the years. Mr. Carmichael remembers Finch and shows her the lavender-colored paint that he applied to the ball. Violet realizes that other visitors have painted over any message that Finch might have left behind and prepares to leave the site. The owner asks that she sign the guest book, where she finds a notation by Finch on April 3: “Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!” (360), a quote from the Dr. Seuss book that they read together. She signs her name with the next line in the ’book and sings Finch’s Dr. Seuss song aloud while driving home. 

Upon seeing her parents, Violet tells them that she wants to talk and reminisce more about Eleanor. She explains that she had recommended her sister drive on the bridge where the accident occurred and that she had loved Theodore Finch. She says, “Just because they’re dead, they don’t have to be. And neither do we” (361). Her mother and father embrace her, and they take turns saying, “We’re okay” (362).

Finch’s map, and his last text, “I believe in signs” (363), lead Violet to an eerily abandoned drive-in movie theater. She finds graffiti on the screen reading, “I was here. TF” and is overcome with grief and questions about what she had been doing while Finch was painting this message (364). Violet signs her own initials on the screen with spray paint and takes a photo in case it is torn down.

Her next destination is Our Lady of Mount Carmel Monastery in Munster, Indiana. The property includes a church and shrines. A friar explains that Polish army chaplains created the monastery after World War II. Violet tries to see the property through Finch’s eyes, recalling that he felt some people found Indiana to be beautiful.

The shrines are a series of grottoes built from crystalline rocks that sparkle in the sunlight and give way to underground hallways with stained glass windows and marble sculptures. She steps into a room that “glows from floor to ceiling” and depicts Gabriel and Jesus raising the dead (366). Violet leaves a ring that had belonged to Eleanor as an offering and ascends the stairs on her knees, as requested by the friars. She takes away the first plain rock Finch had given her, which he had placed on the hand of the sculpture of Jesus. The friar assists her from the staircase and tells her that the grotto is named “The Ultraviolet Apocalypse” (367); she recalls that Finch called her by the pet name Ultraviolet. 

That evening, Violet meets Brenda, Charlie, Ryan, and Amanda at the Purina Tower. They light candles and take turns talking about Finch. Brenda plays music that Finch liked, and they all dance at the top of the tower.

Upon her arrival home, Violet finds that Finch added a final location to the map without telling her. It is Farmersburg, Indiana, which is known for its large number of TV and radio transmitter towers. His last text reads, “A lake. A prayer. It’s so lovely to be lovely in Private” (369).

Violet drives to Prairieton the next morning and asks for help finding a location that includes a lake and a church. A cashier mentions that there is a lake near “Private Road,” and Violet is sad that this will be the last of the sites Finch left her. After turning on Private Road, she finds a lake covered with algae. She enters the small church, which contains only a few pews, and sits in the sunlight. She reads a laminated history of the church propped up on the altar and notes that the Taylor Prayer Chapel was created as a “sanctuary for weary travelers” and was built “in memoriam to those who have lost their lives in auto accidents” (374). Violet realizes that Finch chose this location for Eleanor, for her, and for himself—a traveler who needed rest. 

She finds an envelope addressed to her in the Bible. Upon opening it, she finds that Finch left her a song that he composed about her. “You make me happy / Whenever you’re around I’m safe inside your smile” (375). Violet cries, and she memorizes the words. She drives home and plays the melody on her flute.

Violet visits the Blue Hole where Finch died. She swims as deep as possible and recalls the suicide of Cesare Pavese. Although he kept a daily journal, none of his survivors had any idea why he took his life. Natalia Ginzburg wrote that Pavese experienced “the voluptuous heedless melancholy of a boy who has still not come down to earth” (378). 

Violet feels that these words are applicable to Finch as well. She writes an epitaph for him that declares, “I was alive. I burned brightly […] I will always be here, in the offerings and people I left behind” (378). 

Violet treads water and contemplates the blue sky, which reminds her of Finch. She anticipates her own “still to be written” epitaph and all the adventures that she will experience. Violet feels that “a thousand capacities spring up in me” (378).