Theodore Finch's Internal Conflict In All The Bright Places

In All the Bright Places, Theodore Finch’s internal conflict leads to self destruction and ultimately to the emotional ruin of Violet, his girlfriend and character opposite. At the start, their opposite traits prove the scientific principle of opposing polarities being drawn to each other: positives attract negatives and vice-versa, but as the novel progresses it becomes apparent that their differences actually push them away from each other rather than bring them together.

Opposite character personalities may attract each other, but essentially they create tension and problems. From the moment Violet first meets Finch, something about him captures her attention. She finds herself finally admitting to him, “You know what I like about you,

She finds herself thinking of him and how much she loved him. Although she recognizes that he was unstable, she cannot push her feelings away and cannot begin to understand why he decided to leave her. She does speak of their differences and how because of them she is “now covered in the colors pull[ed] apart at the seams” (Halsey Web). Their relationship, while in the beginning compelling, ends with the departure of the boy and the devastation of the girl. The boy was unable to make their differences work, and dealing with personal issues as well, decided to walk away.

“Her” external conflict is the struggle she goes through with the boy himself. He attracts her with his vibrancy and attention-grabbing abilities, typical qualities of the color red, and she draws him in with her calming persona, a basic characteristic of the color blue. When with him, she has to deal with his instability, and afterwards must eventually come to terms with him leaving her.

Red brings images of heat, passion, and anger, so the male saw himself as someone fiery and passionate, and was attracted to the girl because she represented something cool and calm in comparison. However he manages to impact her and she turns into someone more like him, but he doesn’t find this attractive and leaves