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Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Beautiful Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Addiction, Ruin, and Redemption
Responsibility and Blame
Parenthood and Control
Support vs. Enabling
The Disease Model, Stigma, and Treatment
Summary
Analysis
Randy continues to call Nic and leave messages on his cell phone. Using Z.’s phone, Nic leaves messages saying that they’re going to meetings and getting sober. But the more he speaks, the more David believes he sounds high. David remembers something Nic told him during a past recovery: that his brain lies to him, telling him that he can have one drink or a joint and that he doesn’t require a vigilant recovery program.
Two weeks later, Nic calls asking for rent money. David and Vicki both say no. Nic emails on Monday saying that they’re in Joshua Tree, where Nic is writing and Z. is working wardrobe on a commercial. David hopes that this is true. There is no news for days, and David feels that some of his panic is lifting. He is no longer sick with worry; he is “letting go.”
David illustrates the progress that he has made: even though he might not know exactly what is happening to his son, he is not debilitated by his anxiety. He has been able to detach enough to continue with his own life.
Themes
One evening, David receives calls from Nic’s godfather and Vicki, who just heard from Nic. Nic said that he is in Oakland and that he’d lied about being in Joshua Tree. Nic said that they were in trouble and needed plane tickets back to LA. Vicki is unsure of what to do, and David tells her that he won’t help Nic unless he wants to go into rehab.
When Nic asks for money, David again makes the argument that they should not help pay for plane tickets without knowing that Nic will go back into rehab. Even though David and Vicki want to support Nic, enabling him will not accomplishing this; only getting him back to rehab will truly help.
Themes
The next day, Nic leaves more messages for Vicki and his godfather, saying that he and Z. found money to fly home. David is working in the library, and when he sees Z.’s number calling, he turns his phone off. Later, he listens to the message: Nic saying that he’s driving back from Joshua Tree and that he’s in cell phone range again. David is struck by the intricacy of Nic’s lies and by the fact that Nic thinks that Vicki and Nic’s godfather wouldn’t have told David about his messages. Nic says that he misses and loves David.
David turning his phone off when Nic calls is another symbolic act that indicates how much he is letting go. Before, not knowing what is happening with Nic would have filled David with anxiety, and he would have always answered the phone. But now, David is choosing to control what he can (his own behavior in picking up the phone) and letting go of what he cannot (Nic’s behavior).
Themes
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