53 pages • 1 hour read
Benjamin StevensonEveryone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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 Quest for the Truth
The quest for the truth is a theme that runs throughout the novel. As a mystery, a key plot development focuses on revealing the identity of the dead body appearing at the lodge and discovering who is responsible for the death and why. This incident is connected to the larger conflicts and concealed truths that define and shape the Cunningham family.
Initially, the instigating event that sets the conflict in motion is the killing of Alan Holton. During the years leading up to the present day of the novel, Ernie did not know why Michael killed Holton or what brought them together. When Michael is quickly accused of killing the unidentified man at the lodge, Ernie sets out to untangle the truth of Alan Holton’s death. Importantly, this truth proves to be complex and difficult to discern. Further, it is bound up in the death of Ernie’s father, and the extent of his father’s criminal involvement—including acting as a go-between for police and a criminal ring of child kidnappers—is necessary for piecing together Michael’s actions.
Importantly, the unraveling of the mystery is not merely to satisfy the curiosity of Ernie and the others present. In piecing together the facts, Ernie gains a deeper understanding of each of his family members and of their motives and inner struggles. A key aspect of this theme involves the revelation that none of the Cunninghams are entirely who they appear to be on the surface. In many ways, this hidden truth is connected to the particular “killing” each family member has carried out. For instance, Ernie believes Sofia to be a successful, skilled, and capable surgeon. When he learns that her license has been suspended due to the death of a patient during surgery, Ernie is forced to decide whether, as Sofia initially insists, this death was an unavoidable accident that was no fault of Sofia’s or an act of negligence that reveals Sofia to be careless or reckless. The truth, in the end, is more complex than either option: Sofia’s substance dependency led to the death. The revelation of this substance abuse sheds new light on Sofia’s character, revealing her to be a complex person with flaws and weaknesses that are beyond her control.
In obtaining the complete truth about his father’s actions and death, Michael’s involvement, and the ways in which other family members contributed to either covering up or righting these events, Ernie is able to put the past to rest once and for all.
Familial Loyalty and Betrayal
From the start of the novel, Ernie emphasizes the unique bond among his family. Due to his father’s killing of a police officer, the Cunningham name has become infamous among police. Importantly, Audrey’s mother insists that this crime—and the others Robert committed—were not done out of malice, immorality, or any other condemnable offense, but because Robert was a sort of “Robin Hood” figure—taking from the undeserving rich in order to help the deserving poor. For this reason, she staunchly defends the Cunningham name and insists that the other family members remain loyal to one another. Ernie’s testifying against Michael during the Alan Holton trial is, therefore, the ultimate betrayal in Audrey’s eyes. In this regard, family members are to defend and support one another regardless of their actions, simply because they are blood related. Ernie is well aware of his alleged transgressions and unsurprised when his mother continues to hold a grudge against him—even though Michael is about to be released from prison and presumably all of the harm done by Ernie is now theoretically behind them.
Importantly, Ernie is conflicted about turning his brother in to authorities, recognizing the way in which this action violates the family mantra of loyalty. He seeks to make amends with Michael, to earn back his trust and rekindle a friendship. That Michael—though his time with Ernie at the resort is brief—does not begrudge Ernie’s decision suggests Michael understands that there are valid exceptions to the loyalty-no-matter-what mandate that Audrey touts. By contrast, Jeremy Cunningham’s crimes prevent him from ever being accepted by the Cunninghams. Ironically, he insists that he commits murder in order to be like them and to thus be accepted and welcome as one of them. This assumption suggests that the Cunningham loyalty, then, is not all-encompassing and does indeed need to both be earned and meet certain parameters. Even those who are not Cunninghams by blood—such as Marcelo and Sofia, who are “step” family members—and in-laws Andy, Erin, and Lucy are expected to carry out the Cunningham loyalty. Ernie is quick to point out that because each has also killed someone, these individuals are as worthy of the Cunningham name as the blood Cunninghams. In this way, the novel raises questions about not only what constitutes family but also what lengths family members should be willing to go to in order to help or protect one another.
Righting Past Wrongs
The novel’s plot is set in motion by the unfinished business of the past—primarily concerning Robert Cunningham’s actions and Michael’s subsequent involvement. At the heart of this unfinished business lies the negative reputation that the Cunningham family acquired when Robert killed a police officer during the so-called robbery. As Michael, and later Ernie, learns, this incident was more complex than what either of them was aware of or what was made public, and accordingly, both set out to prove that the public image of their father is flawed. Audrey, too, in her knowledge of the kidnapping ring, is desperate to acquire the proof (in the form of the photographs for sale by Alan Holton) that both her husband and especially her son were on the “right side” of a police cover-up. Until Ernie obtains knowledge of this cover-up, he is frustrated by Audrey’s animosity toward him. When he chose to notify police about Michael’s actions surrounding Alan Holton’s death, he felt that he was making the correct decision and adhering to his moral code. This decision cost him the support of the rest of the Cunninghams, however, who viewed Ernie’s testimony against Michael as a betrayal. Upon Michael’s release from prison, Ernie is determined to right his past wrong and convey to both Michael and their family that his actions were not carried out in animosity or disloyalty. Importantly, Ernie did what he felt was right, based on the information that he had at the time. As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that Ernie did not possess the full story of Alan Holton’s death or Michael’s actions.
Other characters, too, are shaped by their desire to correct past wrongs. Sofia, for example, manifests this theme when she requests to borrow $50,000 from the duffle bag supply. That she has stolen and sold the Rolex watch for this amount is not made known until the novel’s conclusion, when the extent of her substance addiction is made evident. Ernie points out the importance of making amends as a step in the process toward sobriety, and Sofia acknowledges that she does aim to buy back the watch. In making this promise, and in healing from her substance dependency, Sofia can begin to heal some of the damage she has caused to herself and others. In her situation, as in others, it becomes evident that what is right and what is wrong is not so clearly discernable, but that in order to move forward, the past and past mistakes must be acknowledged and reconciled where possible.
