Themes Of Nothing To See Here By Kevin Wilson

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson is a thought-provoking, awe-inspiring novel. The novel brings many pop-culture torments and everyday struggles to light. The novel creates multiple discussion points based on character relationships and point-of-views. The book also uses literary structures such as themes and motifs to create a deeper understanding of the conveyed messages. One theme of the novel is privilege and possession/access to power. Two of the main characters, Madison Billings and Lillian Breaker, are great examples of this theme. Analyzing Madison and Lillian's relationship with privilege reveals the unique experiences each girl has with access to money and power. Glancing back at each character's childhood, parents, and highschool

Lillian’s parental background is unstable and unfit. Lillian’s mother raised her in poverty and unsteadiness. Sifting through multiple jobs and constantly struggling for money, Ms. Breaker creates an extremely wobbly environment for Lillian to experience. Madison’s father, on the contrary, has always given Madison whatever she wanted. Madison grew up in a blue-blood community, the complete contrast of Lillian. While Madison’s dad provided money and support and opportunity, Lillian’s single-parent household provided loneliness, lack of funds, and unfit morals. The book delves into these distinct differences in one unfortunate instance. Both of the girls and their parents play a part in this very inconvenient and unfair incident that occurs during their highschool years. While the two girls are rooming together, Madison gets busted for possessing drugs. Lillian ends up taking the fall for Madison, because of a deal her Mother struck with Mr. Billings. Mr. Billings offers Ms. Breaker ten thousand dollars for Lillian to take the fall for Madison (Wilson 15). Lillian’s mom takes the money, with very few questions asked. Mr. Billings uses his position of power and his enormous wealth to make sure his daughter stays at the prestigious school. Ms. Breaker has no option but to take the money. Ten thousand dollars has the possibility of changing her life. Of course she takes it. Even if that means

Lillian gets expelled and gets catapulted back into her mother’s arms. Uncomfortably back home, Lillian has to start working and helping her mother around the house. She lives in her mother’s attic, living a monotonous life. Madison, however, gets to stay in school and lives her best life. In a correspondence between the two girls, Madison writes that she has had “... her summer vacation in Maine” (Wilson 17). While Lillian gets thrown back into poverty, because of an incident that she wasn’t even guilty of, Madison gets almost no punishment and gets to keep living life lavishly. Lillian goes back to her “slummy” life, while Madison keeps just living her filthy rich existence. Madison proceeds to marry a senator and create this extravagant life. Lillian, however, becomes a druggie, never keeping a steady job or relationship (Wilson 1). If Lillian had never taken the blame for the cocaine, Madison might not have gotten punished as severely. Madison could have possibly even stayed in school. Both the girls could have prospered. Lillian’s life could have been just as extravagant and stable as Madison’s, had Madison taken the fall for her own