Who Was Responsible For Lydia Lee’s Death In Everything I Never Told You

Who was responsible for Lydia Lee’s death? The novel Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng surrounds the death of teen Lydia Lee. As the mystery goes cold, her family uncovers conflicts and trauma hidden deep within one another. Along with the apparent conflict of Lydia’s death, the novel also illustrates conflicts such as racial discrimination, social principles, and academic pressure. The theme developed throughout the novel is based on how we perform as individuals in a society and just how powerful independence is. A possible theme is that we are as much alone as we are a society. Throughout the novel, the Lee family proves this, whether it be because of confusion following Lydia’s death, or countless race conflicts and family dysfunction. 

A major recurring conflict is James, Lydia’s father, and his trauma built from racial discrimination. Throughout his teenage years and well into his adulthood, he is tormented because of his Asian heritage. He then reflects this onto his song Nath, which creates more stress and loneliness for the both of them. James will never understand Nath, or any other member of the family because they all lack a sense of identity. If they as individuals don’t know who they are, how are they supposed to understand each other? This reinforces the argument that we are as much alone as we are a society because, although they are a family, they stay closed off from one another. They don’t understand each other because they don’t understand themselves. 

Marilyn, Lydia’s mother, also suffers from childhood trauma, resulting in immense academic pressure for Lydia. Her whole life Marilyn has worked to be the opposite of her mother (a housewife) but feels like everything is against the life she wants. Marilyn never became a doctor as she wanted, so she forces that career path onto Lydia. As Lydia gets older, this spirals into an unhealthy obsession to where she would do anything to be less noticed by her parents, like her younger sister Hannah. And because Lydia lacks a sense of identity, this pressure creates confusion with her individuality, which follows with her drowning. When Lydia goes to the lake, it is her way of overcoming conflict. When the water swallows her, it is a symbol of how the expectation and pressure were all too much for her. This supports the theme because, in reality, we are all a society of people who don’t know who we are; we shape our identities based on other people. 

Many literary elements helped build the theme that we are as much alone as we are a society. An important aspect to notice is that the novel is written from a third-person point of view. This helps readers see into the minds of all characters, learning all their internal conflicts. This forms the theme because we observe how the characters operate as a society along with how they actually feel as individuals. Another significant detail to mention is how the secrets throughout the novel show individuality. The Lee family runs on dishonesty and secrets, which creates loneliness in the society in which they live. This teaches readers that in a society, in order to be truly independent, you have to have secrets, otherwise, we would all be the same. 

Individuality is crucial because we are as much alone as we are a society. The Lee family demonstrates this by showing readers internal conflicts and secrets they keep from each other. Conflicts such as racial discrimination, social principles, and academic pressure help develop the theme through the characters as well. Each character lacks a sense of identity so when it comes to individuality vs society, they show that being independent is what truly constitutes a well-rounded society. We have to know ourselves before we can understand each other.