“This is day six of being awake again, and my first week back at school since November 14.”

Finch’s narrative describes what appears to be episodes of debilitating depression. He talks about having been “asleep” for the holidays, but implies that he was experiencing a period of despair during which he simply withdrew from the world. He depicts himself as having felt “dead” and “empty”; the period this quote describes was apparently the most severe of a series of incidents in which he has been unable to function.

“This is followed by laughter because we’re in high school, which means we’re predictable and almost anything is funny, especially if it’s someone else’s public humiliation.”

Following their accidental meeting on the bell tower while contemplating suicide, Violet and Finch form an unlikely bond. When she is embarrassed by dropping her books upon entering a shared class, Finch responds by dropping all of his books and crashing his desk on the floor in order to divert attention from the young woman. His comment illustrates the tendency of adolescent groups to find humor in the humiliation of others.

“I feel ashamed of what I almost put them through.”

Upon the urging of her parents, Violet attends what she is told will be a girls’ sleepover at the home of her former friend, Amanda Monk; however, she finds the celebration to be an “orgiastic free-for-all” and arrives home early (53). She experiences guilt about her thoughts of suicide on the preceding day.