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Chapter 21: March 3, 2001
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in We Need to Talk About Kevin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Guilt and Accountability
Marriage, Family, and Social Norms
Nature vs. Nurture
Idealism vs. Reality
Forgiveness and Empathy
Summary
Analysis
A few days after Snuffles disappears, Eva and Franklin hire a new nanny, Robert. They make an agreement that Robert will watch Celia only until Kevin is home from school. Kevin is 14, and Eva and Franklin agree that he is old enough to look after his sister, as Eva has returned to work by this point. One day, Eva works late, and Franklin calls her as she’s driving home to say that Celia is in the hospital. When Eva arrives to the hospital, Franklin’s expression reassures her that Franklin does love Celia after all. Celia is in surgery, and Franklin tells Eva that Celia got drain cleaner in her eye. Eva doesn’t understand how it could’ve happened. A surgeon emerges and informs them that he was unable to save Celia’s eye.
Celia losing her eye ties her character to her name, which comes from the Latin word for “blind.” This association also alludes to Celia’s “blind” trust in Kevin: she doesn’t see Kevin for who he really is. Though Eva’s narration doesn’t reveal how Celia sustained her injury, readers can guess that Kevin very likely had something to do with it, given his interest in violence and suffering.
Themes
Eva and Franklin convene in Franklin’s light blue pickup truck outside the hospital. Eva likes the truck because it reminds her of when she and Franklin were first dating. Franklin accuses Eva of leaving the clog remover out in the kids’ bathroom. Eva is shocked at the accusation—she is certain that she put the clog remover away behind a child lock after using it. Eva suggests that Kevin left the chemical out. This enrages Franklin, though he expects Eva to accuse him of this. Kevin told Franklin that he heard Celia scream, rinsed her eye with water, and then called an ambulance. Eva argues that Kevin couldn’t have responded quickly because the chemical takes a long time to cause so much damage as it did to Celia—her face is burned on one side.
Celia’s metaphorical blindness to the truth about Kevin is one thing she has in common with Franklin. The two are similar—Franklin is also so naïve and optimistic that he is unable to see the truth about his son. Eva associates both her daughter and husband with the color blue. Franklin’s blue car reminds Eva of a simpler and more innocent time of their lives. Light blue is also the color of the sky, or the heavens, which is the other meaning of Celia’s name (the name is derived from the Roman name Caelius, which derives from the Latin word caelum, or “heaven”).
Themes
Eva cries in Franklin’s truck. Franklin pleads with her to take responsibility and assure Kevin that he did nothing wrong. Eva tries to convince Franklin that something is seriously wrong with Kevin, but Franklin dismisses her concerns as outrageous. Eva agrees not to outwardly blame Kevin, and Franklin agrees never to leave Celia alone with Kevin again. As Eva gets out of his car, Franklin tells her that he thinks she should go to therapy.
Franklin’s commitment to the idea that there is nothing wrong with Kevin becomes increasingly unreasonable. Franklin’s suggestion of therapy recalls Eva’s earlier declaration that she doesn’t believe in therapy because she considers it an American concept. This reiterates how different Franklin and Eva’s core values are and how harmful these differences are to their relationship and family.
Themes
Celia stays in the hospital for several weeks—she contracts an infection, which complicates her healing process. At the house, Franklin and Eva barely speak, but Eva does her best to remain good natured. Per Franklin’s instructions, Eva thanks Kevin for being attentive to Celia when she was hurt. Eva looks directly at Kevin’s face as she speaks to him, and he looks so much like her that she feels like she’s looking at herself. Even so, she can’t figure out what he’s thinking.
Eva notices Kevin’s physical resemblance to her as he gets older. This foreshadows how Eva will soon come to terms with how similar Kevin’s personality actually is to hers.
Themes
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Franklin tells Kevin that Celia will have a glass eye and that she’ll need Kevin’s help and support. As Franklin speaks, Kevin gets a bag of lychees from the fridge. He peels the pink peel off and plays with it. He splits open the whitish fruit to reveal the brown seed at its core. Kevin eats lychee after lychee, playing with and destroying each one as he eats it. Eva remarks that she didn’t know Kevin liked them and that they’re “very delicate.” Eva leaves the room, disgusted, and Kevin laughs.
The imagery of the lychees is reminiscent of human eyeballs (which are also “very delicate”). Kevin seems to try to torment Eva by meticulously destroying the fruits, subtly implying that he destroyed Celia’s eye in the same way. Kevin knows that Eva suspects him of hurting Celia but that Franklin will defend him no matter what. At this point, it is clear that Kevin has been manipulating and lying to Franklin his whole life in order to secure Franklin’s loyalty. Celia’s glass eye symbolizes Franklin and Celia’s blindness to Kevin’s true nature.
Themes
Eva hates being alone in the house with Kevin. She hardly talks to him, and she doesn’t ask questions if he leaves the house. Eva tells Franklin that Kevin masturbates in the bathroom with the door open. She can tell that Kevin waits until Eva is near enough to see and hear him before he does so. Franklin replies that this is normal. Eva asks Franklin to talk to Kevin about it, but she also knows that if Kevin thinks a behavior bothers someone, he will do it even more. The next day, Kevin masturbates loudly with the door open. Eva approaches the bathroom, and Kevin looks at her disinterestedly as he continues. He is using butter as lubricant. Eva stares at his penis and then slams the door shut. She hears Kevin laugh.
Kevin seems to have no boundaries or shame. He acts like his only purpose is to hurt, scare, or humiliate others, and Franklin’s insistence that Kevin’s behavior is normal borders on delusional. Eva may be limited by her husband’s ignorance, but she can only blame herself for her own failure to take action in response to Kevin’s behavior.
Themes
Though her situation seems dismal, Eva never considers leaving Franklin or her family. While Celia is still in the hospital, Mary Woolford comes to Eva’s door. Eva dislikes her immediately. Mary says that her daughter Laura is anorexic and that Kevin has been calling her fat. Mary advises Eva to do something about her son’s behavior. Eva almost laughs as she imagines what ridiculous defenses for Kevin Franklin would come up with if he were there. Eva tells Mary to teach Laura to “suck it up.” Eva doesn’t know that this interaction will be repeated in court two years later.
Kevin’s behavior has worn Eva down, and she seems to think there is nothing she can do to change it. Again, Eva’s failure to intervene is an example of negligent parenting. Kevin will later kill Laura, after which Mary Woolford will have no empathy for Eva. This scene, in which Eva denies Mary empathy and refuses to hold her son accountable for his behavior, clarifies why Mary is particularly antagonistic toward Eva after the murders.
Themes
Celia comes home from the hospital and becomes even more attached to Eva. Eva closely observes how Celia acts around Kevin. She doesn’t seem to fear him, but when he orders her around, she seems slightly more anxious and hesitant than she did before her injury. Celia used to love helping Kevin retrieve his archery arrows when he practiced in the yard, but Eva no longer allows it. Eva has to clean Celia’s empty eye socket daily, and the lifeless appearance of the socket disturbs her. Eva asks Celia once what happened when she hurt her eye. She starts “Kevin—” and hesitates, before saying simply that something got in her eye, and Kevin helped her rinse it out.
Eva clearly fears that Kevin poses a real danger to Celia, but she fails to take any real action to prevent him from hurting her. Eva specifically remarks on Kevin’s archery arrows, which may foreshadow the murders he later commits.
Themes
