59 pages • 1 hour read
Tillie ColeA Thousand Broken Pieces
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Savannah Litchfield
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, mental illness, death, death by suicide, and anti-gay bias.
Savannah is a 17-year-old girl from Blossom Grove, Georgia. She is the younger sister of Ida and Poppy, the latter of whom died of cancer four years before the main events of A Thousand Broken Pieces (as shown in the Prologue). Savannah and her family are secondary characters in the prior novel, A Thousand Boy Kisses, which focuses on Poppy and Rune’s relationship. Savannah functions as a foil in that novel, and the author explores her character more fully in A Thousand Broken Pieces, drawing further attention to the differences between her and Poppy. In particular, while Savannah was always the “quiet” sister in the Litchfield family, her grief and anxiety have made her withdraw into herself, necessitating the therapy trip that furnishes the structure of the novel’s plot.
Savannah is one of two protagonists in the novel, sharing the novel’s perspective with Cael Woods, her love interest, just as Poppy and Rune traded chapters in A Thousand Boy Kisses. Savannah’s introverted nature facilitates the novel’s exploration of grief, as she struggles to reach out to others—a hindrance given The Power of Human Connection in Recovery. That said, the novel does not suggest that Savannah’s introversion is a “problem” in and of itself. Rather, Savannah’s character shows that processing grief does not always result in someone who looks like Ida or Cael, both of whom become boisterous and fun after finding ways to cope with their losses. Savannah instead internalizes both her grief and her happiness, feeling deeply when she sees the stars, the northern lights, or the symbolic candle on the Ganges.
Indeed, one of Savannah’s primary roles is to provide a counterpart to Cael, as the two characters’ arcs show grief’s different stages and processes. Savannah is the perfect candidate for Leo and Mia’s trip, as she follows each step “correctly,” having emotional breakthroughs at the designated times and reaching a state of acceptance by the end of the trip. Her linear journey can be seen in her goal of becoming a pediatric oncologist; initially, this is little more than a faint desire, but she ends the trip with the resilience and willpower needed to start progressing toward that goal (and, by the novel’s conclusion, has successfully completed her studies). Additionally, her relationship with Cael powers the novel’s romance while developing themes of The Necessity of Emotional Vulnerability and Learning to Love After Loss, and the end of the Epilogue implies a long-lasting and happy marriage with Cael.
Cael Woods
Cael is an 18-year-old hockey player from Massachusetts. He is Rune’s equivalent in A Thousand Broken Pieces, recalling Rune’s journey through love, anger, and grief in A Thousand Boy Kisses. Critically, Cael’s anger and grief are not centered on his romance; the source of his trauma is his brother Cillian’s suicide. Unlike Savannah, who has withdrawn into near silence in her grief, Cael has become angry and violent, lashing out at his parents and covering himself with tattoos to erase who he was before the event. The latter symbolizes how grief has changed Cael’s personality; though he notes that, by nature, he is a humorous, outgoing person, he largely appears withdrawn, angry, or apathetic throughout the novel.
Cael is the other protagonist of the novel, sharing the novel’s perspective with Savannah. Like Savannah, Cael is a prime candidate for the grief trip, but he follows a significantly different path. When Savannah takes comfort in and makes progress through her and Cael’s romance, Cael overinvests in their relationship, using love as a way to blot out or deny his grief. After making an agreement with Savannah to avoid their grief together, Cael fails to acknowledge his feelings until the painting incident, which reveals the extent of his lingering pain and anger.
Cael’s journey is thus not as linear as Savannah’s, adding nuance to the novel’s exploration of grief and loss. Nevertheless, Cael’s emotional developments throughout the trip contribute to him becoming the outgoing team player that he is in the final chapters: someone who plays for Harvard, honoring Cillian, and eventually becomes a professional athlete. As a suicide, Cillian’s death is unique among the losses that the teens on the trip are coping with, but Simon’s reframing of Cillian’s death as one due to a disease—depression—helps reset Cael’s understanding of his trauma, cooling his anger at his brother. Cael then must start over again, processing the loss and sadness without someone to blame. The author stresses that Cael’s ultimate ability to do this hinges on Cael’s willingness to get help, fight for himself, and heal for Savannah’s benefit. In the Epilogue, Cael no longer struggles to express himself about Cillian—or his feelings more broadly, as he asks Savannah to marry him.
Dylan, Lili, Jade, and Travis
Dylan, Lili, Jade, and Travis are the other teens on the trip with Cael and Savannah. They do not receive as much characterization as Cael or Savannah, but they are important secondary characters who represent different ways of losing loved ones. Lili, for example, lost both her parents, and Jade lost her mother and brother. These situations help reframe Savannah’s and Cael’s struggles, showing how extensive loss can be without diminishing Cael’s and Savannah’s grief. Travis provides an example of loss relevant to a contemporary American teen—the novel’s target audience—as he lost 11 of his friends in a school shooting.
The other teens also support the novel’s exploration of human connection. The purpose of the grief trip is in part to bolster the teens’ ties with those around them, and these four supporting characters underscore the importance of connecting with more than just a romantic partner; Lili and Jade become lifelong friends, for example.
Dylan, who receives the greatest amount of characterization, is particularly notable in this respect, as he fulfills the romance novel archetype of the best friend. He spends a lot of time with Savannah, though he gradually shifts to spending more time with Travis. Dylan and Travis end up in a romantic relationship, providing a romance parallel to Cael and Savannah’s to show the different ways that love can develop in the wake of loss (unlike Cael and Savannah, Dylan and Travis are not ready to become a couple during the trip itself). The crux of Dylan’s grief is his unexpressed love for Jose, his boyfriend, whom he lost to a drunk driver. In the aftermath, Dylan feels stifled because he cannot admit his sexual orientation, or Jose’s, to their friends or family. Dylan provides a lens through which to view both novels in this series, as he shows the added challenges that Rune, Savannah, and Cael would face if they could not own their romantic relationships publicly.
Poppy, Cillian, Ida, and Parents
Both Savannah and Cael have lost siblings. Cillian’s appearances in the novel are limited to Cael’s memories, but Poppy receives additional characterization via her journal, which Savannah reads throughout the novel. The journal entries often say similar things, such as how much Poppy loves Savannah and how Poppy wants Savannah to live life to the fullest, but they also reveal how Poppy was in life, calling back to her positive and giving nature in A Thousand Boy Kisses. Cael’s memories of Cillian, by contrast, range from positive and uplifting to dark and violent, and Cillian’s characterization changes with Cael’s perspective. Early on, Cillian seems deceptive or cruel, but after Cael recognizes Cillian’s depression for what it was, he is once again able to see him as a supportive, loving older brother.
Cael’s and Savannah’s parents and Savannah’s surviving sister, Ida, form a support system that remains largely unexamined since the novel focuses on the teens’ trip overseas. However, this support system becomes crucial for both characters as they approach the end of their journeys. Savannah maintains consistent contact with Ida throughout her travels, confiding in her about her romance with Cael, and when she returns home, Savannah’s open and honest discussion of her feelings during dinner with her family illustrates how far she has come from the withdrawn girl of the novel’s opening pages. Cael, on the other hand, has little to no contact with his parents, though they are consistently described as supportive and loving. This indicates his ongoing struggles to reach out to others: It is only after he returns from a residential program that Cael begins to talk regularly with his parents, and they all have a cathartic moment of talking in Cillian’s room. The purpose of the surviving family members is thus to show how grief affects everyone but also to reinforce the importance of forging and repairing connections when processing grief.
Leo and Mia
Leo and Mia are the therapists running the grief trip, and they largely fill the roles of mentors or sage archetypes. Mia receives the least characterization, with very few details about her life outside of work. Mia spends more time with Savannah than Cael, supporting her and guiding her through challenging moments. Indeed, she often steps in to help Savannah in ways that Cael might not, such as bringing her to exposure therapy. Mia also provides much of the novel’s exposition, explaining to both readers and characters the need for journaling and the lessons that the group should take from each region. These details all reaffirm Mia’s position as a guide figure.
Leo receives more characterization, specifically in the context of Cael’s struggle with Cillian’s suicide. Leo takes a special interest in Cael, explaining how his father died by suicide when he was younger. The implication of Leo’s story is that Leo followed a similar path to Cael, struggling with anger and depression but ultimately deciding to work through his grief for love. Leo also provides key information (for both readers and characters) on men’s mental health—e.g., their greater suicide rates. Leo’s explanation of the need to talk through feelings, confront despair, and forgive those who have died by suicide serves as an example for both Cael and readers. In the end, it is through trusting Leo that Cael gets the help he needs, and he explicitly credits Leo as a reliable source of help and information because of the similarities in their lived experiences.
