Everything I Never Told You

A study by Raymond Mar and Keith Oatley concluded that, “The close relation between navigating social- and story-worlds has a number of implications, not the least interesting of which is the proposal that readers of predominantly narrative fiction may actually improve or maintain their social-inference abilities through reading.” This study concludes that reading literature helped the test subjects in their everyday lives, suggesting that reading literature makes us better people. A good example of this is seen in Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, which is a novel of a family trying to understand the sudden death of Lydia a sixteen-year-old, without friends or close family relations. Ng does a great job using emotions to enlighten
They are a mixed raced couple with three children, one that receives all their attention and who dies too young, while the other two children are in the background. Marilyn is an American with blonde hair and blue eyes in contrast to her husband, James, a first generation Chinese-American. Although they are from distinctly backgrounds, they are drawn to each other because of their differences. Ng writes, “Because more than anything, her mother had wanted to stand out; because more than anything, her father had wanted to blend in” (Everything 25). The way that they felt different in society, is why they married. Without fully discussing their wants and dreams about their future, or the problems that their children would face by being mixed race in the 1970s; they dove into a relationship. When Marilyn met James, she wanted to be a doctor. Marilyn wanted to be a doctor as a direct contrast to her own mother, a home ec teacher. Marilyn hated the fact that her mom was the epitome of a housewife. So because of the strain Marilyn felt she wanted to be the opposite of her mother, she wanted to defy odds and become a doctor; however, this dream was short lived because she ended up pregnant in college. She always felt as though a piece of her was void, so she tried to make her daughter Lydia live up to her dreams. Lydia was the child that her parents thought could accomplish their dreams. James saw Lydia as the child that can fit in
The lesson that reader takes away from this novel is how straining it is for children that have to live up to their parents failed dreams. The disconnect between the father, and his child is a situation that readers can learn from without having to experience. Even if readers do not have children, they learn that if you have experienced adversities in life that is helpful to share those lessons with anyone, children or not. The benefit of sharing life experiences illustrates to people that they have overcome life’s short comings and so can others. The characters within the novel face a slew of discrimination; however, they did not coach and teach their children how to deal. The importance of communication and sharing life lessons is what readers learn. Experiences of people marginalized in America is another lesson this book illustrates. While some people in American may never experience discrimination or adversity, they are for a moment submerged in the plight of others. Empathy for others, is what readers take away. Although characterization is only one way that readers of literary fiction become better, another way is through the