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Chapter 34
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in It Ends with Us, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Cycles of Abuse
Naked Truths
Good and Evil
Chosen Family
Summary
Analysis
Lily wakes up smelling toast. Her due date is only two days away. Because her doctor put her on bed rest, she has allowed Ryle to stay in the apartment to help her. While nothing is happening between the two of them, Lily is relieved that most of the awkwardness between them has lifted. Ryle leaves for work, and Lily settles onto the couch to eat her breakfast in front of the TV. Her phone rings. She is annoyed when she realizes it’s all the way on the kitchen counter.
The smell of toast calls back to the morning Lily woke in Atlas’s house after the night Ryle knocked her unconscious. The contrast between that morning and this one is extreme; Ryle has rebuilt enough trust to stay in Lily’s apartment to support her at the end of her pregnancy. He has continued to respect her boundaries, and she in turn has let him participate more closely as the baby approaches.
Themes
When Lily stands to answer her cell, her water breaks. Still, she picks up the call, which is from Lucy. She has some work question, which Lily answers. Lily calls Ryle once she hangs up with Lucy. While he drives back to get her, she packs her hospital bag and takes a shower. Ryle enters the bathroom to check on her. Lily’s towel is too small to cover her whole body, so Ryle catches a glimpse of her naked body. He tells her she looks beautiful. Lily lets him touch her bare belly.
The trust they have developed is such that Lily doesn’t push Ryle away during the vulnerable moment her towel slips. They have both grown enough in their separation that they are able to share a true moment of intimacy—and pure love for their baby—without the past rearing its head.
Themes
The tender moment between Lily and Ryle passes when Lily has a painful contraction. Ryle carries her to the car. Labor is progressing quickly, and by the time they get to the hospital, the baby is almost there. Their daughter is born before they get a chance to tell anyone that Lily’s labor had started. Lily feels overwhelming love for her daughter. All she and Ryle can manage to do is stare at her. When he asks what they should name her, Lily suggests they name her Emmy, after Ryle’s brother, Emerson. As Ryle holds Emerson, Lily can see how much Ryle loves her already. Only then is she able to decide what will happen now.
Ryle’s expression while he holds Emmy reflects back to Lily the selfless love she feels for her daughter. And Ryle’s love for their baby is more encouraging to Lily than anything else he has done. In naming their daughter Emmy after Ryle’s late brother (who tragically died at Ryle’s hand), Lily is giving Ryle a gift. She is declaring that she believes in Ryle’s potential for redemption from his past, that she sees his goodness—goodness that is part of the daughter they created.
Themes
Lily considers all the most amazing things about Ryle: his drive, intelligence, humor, and compassion. She knows that her father shared some of those traits, too. But her hatred for her father always outweighed her love for him. Lily doesn’t want that to happen between Ryle and his daughter. She tells Ryle she wants a divorce. He panics and asks for another chance. Lily asks him what he would say to a grown-up Emmy if she told him that her partner struck her, shoved her down the stairs, or tried to rape her.
The only way that Lily sees to preserve that goodness in Ryle—not just for him or her, but for their daughter—is not to allow any more opportunities for what is evil in him to overshadow what is good. It is that love and goodness that Lily calls upon when explaining her decision to Ryle. The directness of Lily’s question is painful for Ryle, but that pain helps him realize his own truth in the way Lily’s pain allowed her to understand hers.
Themes
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Ryle can’t argue against Lily’s point. Instead, he kisses Emmy’s head. Lily asks him to answer because she needs to hear him say it. Ryle responds that he would never let Emmy stay with someone who hurt her even once, no matter how much they said they loved her. Ryle and Lily cry and hold their daughter. Lily knows that in the last 15 minutes, Ryle has both gained a daughter and lost a wife. In the last 15 minutes, they have both been broken and healed. Lily’s decision ends the generational abuse that she and her mother suffered. Lily is positive that she has made the right choice for Emmy, even though it hurts both her and Ryle. Together, they mourn their lost love and celebrate breaking the cycle.
When Ryle admits that his selfless love for Emmy would cause him to beg her to leave if someone ever hurt her, he finally affirms Lily’s decision to divorce; he understands having selfless love for his wife means letting her go. This decision is painful for both Lily and Ryle, but they make it anyway in hopes it will save their daughter from ever feeling that same hurt.
Themes
