A Thousand Broken Pieces

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, death, and death by suicide.

Cole frequently uses the image of a wall when describing both Savannah and Cael. Ida tells Savannah, “You built walls around your heart so high that no one could break them” (27), while Cael notes that even his parents’ sadness could not “break through the impenetrable walls that now encase[] [his] heart” (36). For the characters, these walls have two effects; they protect their hearts from further damage but keep everyone else out in the process. The novel therefore suggests that these walls do more to harm the characters than to protect them and that a large part of the process of navigating grief is learning to lower these walls and let out the emotions trapped inside. 

For Savannah, that vulnerability is rooted in expression—specifically, expression of her love for Poppy and her grief after Poppy’s death. Though Savannah is introverted by nature, Cole suggests that even people with her temperament benefit from sharing their emotions with others. A key moment for Savannah is when she confesses to Cael, “Sometimes I think it’s me who should have died” (178). Savannah’s guilt is a part of her grief, and only in expressing it to Cael does she begin to overcome these feelings.