My Dear You by Rachel Khong Book Analysis

A lesson that is learned often in life is the lesson that letting go can be difficult but it is important for healing. The theme of “My Dear You” by Rachel Khong is letting go can be complicated but it is necessary for the healing journey, demonstrated through the repetition of the word “cry”, the simile between shards of glass and a glimmer of light, and the symbolism of the sun. “My Dear You” is a love story in the afterlife with the narrator being a woman who has been dead for 50 years and is struggling to let go of her past even though she's in heaven. She can’t shake the feeling that the longer she’s there, the more she forgets.

Letting go can be difficult, but it is necessary for the healing process. This is demonstrated by repeating the word “cry” throughout the story. The narrator constantly repeats the action of crying throughout the story. One example is when the narrator says “I had to excuse myself from our table to cry [...] I could cry quietly” (Khong 5,6). This shows that the narrator can’t let go and is struggling to let go. They’ve been dead for 50 years and can’t let go of the idea that they are dead or the idea that the longer they’re dead, the more they forget. The repetition of the word “cry” and the action of crying throughout the story are examples of how the narrator is struggling to let go but they know it’s important. They admit this knowledge, but can’t let go of their past. The narrator isn’t letting themself let go, and because of it, they cannot heal, as evidenced by the action of crying and the repetition of the word “cry”.

The chosen theme is shown by the simile between a “glimmer of light” and “shards of glass”. The narrator is talking about the day they married their husband when they were alive. The narrator says “The day we got married I caught, in his eye, a glimmer of worry about what we were about to embark upon. That glimmer was like a shard of glass that flew over to me and caught on me” (Khong 4). The narrator still remembers the day they got married and how there was a worried “glimmer” in her husband's eyes about what they were about to “embark” on by getting married, and how the glimmer was like a “shard” of glass and how it “caught” onto the narrator. The narrator can't forget their past life as they still remember their husband on their wedding day and they can’t let go of that look their husband had when they got married that showed he was scared as well; the narrator explaining that they remember the “glimmer” and how it felt shows that they’re struggling with the idea of leaving their husband and how they died. They’re struggling to live the life they have now and they’re trying to hold onto what they remember of their past life like how much that look of worry in their husband's eyes stung.

The theme that letting go can be complex but is necessary for the healing process is demonstrated through the symbolism of the sun. The narrator is walking outside to go on a daily jog after spending a day with Adam, a new person they met in heaven, and “outside, it was a sunny day” (Khong 10). The sun is a symbol of happiness, joy, excitement, and many more positive emotions, The sun coming out and it being “sunny” when the narrator stepped outside symbolizes that they have finally found peace in their death and that they have forgotten a lot of their past. The narrator is finally letting go of their past and accepting everything that has happened, so now they can start their healing process.

The theme of “My Dear You” by Rachel Khong is that letting go can be difficult, but it is necessary for the healing journey. This is shown through the repetition of the action and word “cry”, the simile of the glimmer being like a shard of glass, and the sun symbolizing a good day, happiness, joyfulness, and the act of letting go of the past. This is important because it is important for one to understand the importance of letting go to start the healing process and for one to recognize and understand that letting go is not necessarily a bad thing. Letting go is often looked at negatively and people don’t realize it is better to let go than hold onto something because it is not good for the psyche.