51 pages • 1 hour read
Hannah GraceDaydream
Fiction | Novel | Adult | 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.
Themes
The Importance of Friendship
At Maple Hills, both Halle Jacobs and Henry Turner are overwhelmed by the challenges of college life. Over the course of the novel, they discover that with the help of their friends, they can confront and overcome these challenges. Their experiences thus continually teach them about the importance of friendship.
For Halle, friendship feels fleeting and elusive after she and her childhood friend Will Ellington break up. For as long as she can remember, Will has been “[her] only friend” and she worries she’s lacking in the “long list of complimentary adjectives” that might attract others to her (4). The end of her old connection with Will initially leaves Halle feeling lonely at Maple Hills. However, the breakup also grants Halle the chance to make her own friends at Maple Hills for the first time. She starts a book club and strikes up a friendship with a co-worker, Cami. The connections she forms with secondary characters such as Cami, Aurora Roberts, Emilia Bennett, Poppy Grant, and Ava Jones feel empowering and exciting for her. As the characters grow closer, Halle discovers the true meaning of sisterhood: “[W]omen supporting other women to meet their goals” (388). These female friendships bolster Halle’s confidence and allow her to share her life with like-minded people.
For Henry, friendship similarly carries him through difficult times. His relationships with Nate Hawkins, Robbie, JJ, Russ Callaghan, Aurora Roberts, and Anastasia Allen are especially formative for his character. Like Halle’s friends, Henry’s friends check in on him when he’s feeling down and talk him through academic and personal challenges. Meanwhile, these friendships give Henry people to rely on as his relationship with Halle develops. In various moments of the narrative, Henry turns to his friends to ask for advice on how best to manage his evolving feelings for Halle. His friends consistently show interest in the relationship and offer him encouragement, which helps give Henry the confidence to pursue Halle.
Halle and Henry’s connection is also based at first on friendship, illustrating the friends-to-lovers trope common in the romance genre. Before they fall in love, they establish a bond based on reciprocal care and support. Their growing connection never competes with their other friendships, and their other friendships never compete with their unique connection. In these ways, the novel presents examples of a network of healthy, balanced relationships. Throughout the characters’ time at Maple Hills, they learn how to grow together while developing a deeper understanding of the role platonic connections play in enhancing their lives.
The Transformative Power of Love
At the novel’s start, Halle and Henry make a platonic arrangement that will benefit them both. Halle wants new experiences so that she can “write about a relationship” for her novel competition (94), while Henry needs help passing Dr. Thornton’s class. As their dynamic progresses over the narrative, they both learn more about the transformative power of love through their deepening feelings for one another.
At first, the characters stick largely to their original, non-romantic agreement. Henry takes Halle on dates that spark Halle’s creative energy, while Halle devotes her spare time to tutoring Henry in his academics. Over time, however, Halle and Henry’s growing attraction transforms their lives in more complex ways, giving them the confidence to pursue goals that are important to them. Henry helps Halle bake cookies for her book club meeting so that Halle can focus on her writing; Halle brings Henry snacks, medicine, and tea when Henry is feeling overwhelmed. Halle also attends Henry’s hockey games and asks questions about his artistic projects. Meanwhile, Henry asks questions about Halle’s writing competition and encourages her efforts to submit to it. As the characters become more closely involved in one another’s lives, their emotional connection deepens alongside their growing physical attraction to one another.
Love also transforms their attitudes toward relationships in new ways. Halle begins the novel as someone sexually inexperienced and hesitant to try a new relationship, as her negative experiences with Will have left her feeling insecure and hesitant. With Henry’s nonjudgmental attitude toward sex, Halle gradually begins to feel more comfortable pursuing a sexual connection with him. Meanwhile, Henry has had many sexual experiences but is less certain about committing emotionally to an exclusive relationship. As he grows closer to Halle, he realizes how much she means to him and begins to open up to the idea of an official girlfriend-boyfriend dynamic instead of a more casual and open-ended arrangement.
By the end of the novel, Henry and Halle have decided to commit to a relationship with one another. Their love has helped them to develop a stronger sense of their own identities, while also deepening their knowledge of one another’s vulnerabilities and personal goals. Their plans to go to New York City together as a couple to pursue their artistic interests over the summer reinforces the sense that they are moving forward together into a new phase of their relationship.
The Challenges of Personal Development
Halle and Henry’s junior year at Maple Hills presents them with various personal, familial, and academic challenges. Throughout the narrative, both protagonists must learn how to navigate these challenges to further their personal development as young adults.
At the start of the school year, Halle confronts a crisis of identity and purpose. She loses her boyfriend and only friend, Will, which leaves her questioning what she really wants out of her life. Halle has spent the past years devoting every spare minute to pleasing Will, so when she finds herself single with “no friends [and] no hobbies” at the start of the fall semester, she tells herself that she “is going to spend junior year doing things for [her]self” (10). She takes on shifts at the bookstore, starts a romance book club, signs up for a writing competition, and continues to support her family from afar.
While these activities help Halle define her sense of self in a more independent way, she still struggles with the major transitions in her life, which means that her emotional progress is not always linear. One of her biggest challenges is learning how to differentiate her own needs and desires from other people’s expectations of her. For example, while she becomes confident enough to grow closer to Henry and start a sexual relationship with him, she still worries about her mother finding out about her breakup with Will and initially tries to hide the truth from her. She eventually learns how to stand up to her mother over her mother’s interference, which helps both mother and daughter realize that Halle needs space and privacy to make her own decisions as an adult. Similarly, with Henry’s help, she gradually learns how to say no when others ask her for favors to protect her own well-being.
Meanwhile, Henry is struggling to pass his classes and adjust to his new role as captain of the hockey team. He has supportive friends but also gets overwhelmed by his competing responsibilities. Just as Halle struggles to assert herself with her mother, Henry struggles with the idea of disappointing Coach. As the narrative progresses, Henry gradually begins to confront the insecurities and anxieties that are holding him back. Halle helps Henry focus on his schoolwork, which improves his academic performance. She also encourages him to be honest with Coach once being captain becomes too much for him to handle. Henry eventually takes control over his own life by resigning as team captain and deciding to pursue an official relationship with Halle, both of which are significant milestones in his personal development.
Daydream thus charts how young adults must overcome challenges to solidify their own identities and to find ways of prioritizing goals that are meaningful to them. While Halle and Henry are still very young at the novel’s end, they have emotionally matured and are better equipped to navigate new challenges going forward.
