All the Bright Places Literary Elements

Young Adult

The events of the novel take place in a fictional town Bartlett, Indiana. Two students are assigned to work on a project dedicated to the wonders of the state. For Violet, this wandering is a process of returning to her true self, while for Theodore this project becomes his last adventure.

The story is written in alternating first person chapters, switching between Finch and Violet.

Shifts among humorous, sarcastic, happy, sad, angry, desperate, and hopeful.

Protagonists: Finch and Violet. Antagonist: not one clear one, but Finch's father is definitely an antagonistic character, as is Gabe Romero (Roamer)

The major conflict is person vs. self. Finch fights to continue finding reasons to live. Violet fights to come back to the world of the living instead of the world of the dead.

The major climax of the book is Finch's suicide.

"Is today a good day to die?" The novel opens with a nod toward an event that will happen eventually. There is also recurring talk of Virginia Woolf's suicide by drowning, as well as her note which states that her husband did everything he could--both of these foreshadow the events that occur later in the novel, when Finch dies and Violet must accept that she did all that she could.

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Most prominently, the novel alludes to The Waves, Cesare Pavese, and Dr. Seuss. There are also subtle allusions to the Bible, Hamlet, and the Lord of the Rings.

There is a lot of powerful imagery, most notably: Finch floating in the river, Finch bursting through the surface of the water, Finch running as fast as he can, Finch and Violet on the bell tower, Finch holed up in his closet, and Violet swimming in the Blue Hole by herself.

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Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower, and then we see parallel scenes when they are standing on other high ledges (Purina Tower, Hoosier Hill, the roller coaster), but this time reclaiming it for themselves.

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