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Chapter 49
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mental Health
Art and Self-Discovery
Peer Pressure vs. Self-Empowerment
Friendship and Romance
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Mom and Dad arrive at 7:45 a.m. to take Craig home. Armelio, Bobby, the Professor, Smitty, and Ebony all say goodbye. Noelle asks for him to call her later that evening. Craig introduces Noelle to Mom and Dad. As he’s about to leave, Muqtada comes and hugs Craig one last time. The door opens, and Craig and his family leave.
Craig’s discharge from the hospital is both an exciting and potentially stressful event. The doors of the hospital represent the threshold that Craig crosses as he returns to his new life. This passage conveys hope but also uncertainty, suggesting that as much as Craig connected with others in the hospital, what awaits him outside is still unknown.
Themes
Craig asks Mom and Dad if he can just walk alone for about a minute, and they let him. As he walks, he has a new appreciation for the city around him and feels that perhaps he’s in the middle of a big Shift. He thinks of all the things he wants to do while he’s alive. He promises to start living life for real.
The final passage of the book ends things on a hopeful note. Craig has reversed his views of the future and now looks forward to all the things that he still wants to do with his life. His decision to walk alone shows how he has taken the advice of his therapists and learned to manage his depression symptoms on his own terms—although he reached this stage of independence through the help of the relationships he formed in the hospital.
Themes
