Ali’s separation from her husband, Pete, spurs her journey toward reclaiming her personal autonomy and identity. Since Ali married Pete, she lost her authentic sense of self and allowed her true desires to dissolve in the context of her marriage. Although her relationship was unstable, Ali “never got angry enough” and chose to be “appeased and distracted,” “to just let [Pete’s behavior] go” (207) instead of confronting him for his lack of support and emotionally abusive actions. In choosing silence and submission throughout her marriage, Ali lost her ability to use her voice and therefore to exercise her agency. The novel uses these fraught marital dynamics to expose the ways that imbalanced relationship dynamics can cause an individual to lose their power and autonomy.

As Ali’s relationship with Ethan evolves, it reminds her of who she was and is still capable of being. He reminds Ali that she was “always [her] own person” (76) and that her confidence and self-assuredness was what originally attracted him to her even when they were in high school. Furthermore, Ethan actively invests in Ali’s life in the present.