The Harm of Keeping Things From the Light

The entire novel centers around the things people hide from one another, and the novel posits that keeping secrets and withholding aspects of oneself from others only serves to hurt the person living in the darkness. In the novel, darkness represents the things kept in secret, the things people do not want to share with others. People try to keep others in the dark because they are too afraid to be honest. The light represents things that people are willing to admit to and own up to. Bringing things into the light requires strength and vulnerability, and the main characters have to garner this strength in order to free themselves from the darkness they hide behind.

Nash’s darkness is both his panic attacks and the feelings of inadequacy he feels when faced with the prospect of not being...