60 pages • 2 hours read
Sarah DessenSomeone Like You
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1998A 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 Impact of Life-Altering Events on Young Adults
Content Warning: This section references death and vehicle accidents.
The teenage years are an important time for young adults as they navigate their changing identities and relationships. Life-altering events that take place in one’s young adulthood have large implications for the trajectory of one’s life, as Sarah Dessen explores in Someone Like You. Halley and Scarlett navigate losing a partner, unplanned pregnancy, first love, and traumatic accidents in the text. While many of these events have negative ramifications or permanently restructure one’s life, they also often provide clarity and deeper understanding of what and who is most important.
Through losing her boyfriend, Michael, and navigating an unplanned pregnancy, Scarlett’s life is forever changed. Halley shows that the impacts of hardship can be more easily weathered when facing them with unconditional support when she supports Scarlett in her pregnancy. Once Scarlett decides to not have an abortion, Halley listens to her friend without judgment and “never question[s] her choice again” (113). Halley understands the challenges that Scarlett will face as a pregnant teenager and mother, but she also knows that her position as Scarlett’s friend is to support her decision and help her in any way that she can. These hardships entirely restructure Scarlett’s future and set her life’s direction to an extent. During a pivotal time when other peers are gaining the freedom to find themselves and make mistakes, Scarlett’s future is already solidified. This path deeply affects not only Scarlett but also Halley, who is right by her side throughout these experiences.
One important decision that affects Scarlett and Halley, and many young adults, is the decision of whether or not to have sex. Halley grapples with this decision regarding her relationship with Macon. Scarlett tries to encourage Halley to understand that she should not “give up something important to hold onto someone who can’t even say they love you” (221). Both characters interact with this question of their first sexual experience—when they should have this experience, whether they are ready, and with whom. Scarlett’s character exemplifies the potential stakes of decisions made regarding sex and their potential impact on the teenage years.
The car accident is also a major event that shapes Halley’s life. This event is the catalyst for her decision to break up with Macon for good, as his behavior after the crash teaches her that she deserves more from a partner than what he is willing to give. Macon’s casual attitude after the car accident, which he caused by speeding through a red light, and his lack of care toward Halley in the aftermath of the accident show her that he is not someone that deserves to be with her: “The truth was that I knew […] that I deserved better. I deserved I love yous and kiwi fruits and flowers and warriors coming to my door, besotted with love” (243). Halley, who has often struggled with the belief that she deserves care and love, understands in the aftermath of a life-altering event that she does deserve the kind of love and support from a romantic partner that she receives from others in her life.
Navigating Family Dynamics in Adolescence
Family dynamics shift during adolescence, often causing turmoil and tension between young adults and their parents. Scarlett and Marion display some of these difficulties regarding Scarlett’s pregnancy. Halley and her mother are also no exception to this common experience, despite their close relationship all throughout Halley’s childhood. The text explores the challenges of navigating family dynamics in adolescence through the girls’ relationships with their mothers as they approach adulthood and legal independence.
When Scarlett first reveals to her mother, Marion, that she is pregnant, Marion pushes Scarlett to get an abortion. This decision is essentially made for her against her will, while Scarlett still contemplates what she wants to do with her pregnancy. Scarlett, a similar age to her mother when she became pregnant, envisions the potential life she could cultivate, while Marion removes this agency altogether and makes an abortion appointment for her daughter. When Scarlett misses the appointment and decides to keep the baby, Marion still pushes her to give the baby up for adoption. It takes much of the story before Marion can support Scarlett’s decision to keep her baby. This conflict exemplifies the difficult power dynamics present when parents raise young adults. Marion does not trust Scarlett’s intuition or desires, though Scarlett feels that she has a right to her own decisions and bodily autonomy.
The conflict between Halley and her mother, Julia, is present at the outset of the text. As Halley describes, “But even with her two books, dozens of seminars, and appearances on local talk shows advising parents on how to handle The Difficult Years, my mother hadn’t quite found the solution for dealing with me” (8). Macon quickly becomes the greatest point of conflict, as Halley’s behaviors make her unrecognizable to her mother. In response, Julia tries to hold on even tighter to Halley: “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, Halley. Sneaking around, creeping in the door. Lying to me to my face. All because of this Macon, some boy you won’t introduce to us, who we don’t even know” (160). This push and pull between Halley and her mother throughout the text and their inability to effectively communicate only further heighten the conflict between them.
Because of their historically strong relationship, Halley’s mother is too quick to think that she knows everything about Halley, and so when Halley’s thoughts, actions, and behaviors do not align with her expectations, Julia becomes confused and frustrated. While Halley expresses concern about her agency with Macon, she also struggles to find agency with her mother. Julia holds Halley to her expectations and refuses to accept, and even admonishes, deviation from her idea of Halley.
At the end of the text, Halley realizes that she does need her mother. Her mother is the person she calls when Scarlett goes into labor at prom and ends up at the hospital. Halley, overwhelmed, knows that her mother will come to her aide, which she immediately does, encouraging Halley to step up and be by Scarlett’s side as she gives birth. Halley realizes, “[There] would never be a way to cut myself from her entirely. No matter how strong or weak I was, she was a part of me, as crucial as my own heart. I would never be strong enough, in all my life, to do without her” (274-75). Halley and her mother’s relationship will continue to evolve throughout their lives, but at the end of the text, they have come to a better place in which Halley will be able to continue growing while Julia guides but does not steer.
The Importance of Friendship
Scarlett and Halley experience hardship, mistakes, and growth throughout the text. They are able to navigate these challenges and weather the storms of life through their steadfast friendship. Halley states early on that “[l]ife is an ugly, awful place to no have a best friend” (23), and this quote resonates and echoes throughout as Halley and Scarlett help each other grow into the women they are becoming.
Throughout the text, Halley and Scarlett support one another as they each take different journeys—for Scarlett, it is her pregnancy, and for Halley, it is her relationship with Macon. At the beginning of the text, Halley feels that Scarlett is “more confident, able to make friends fast, where [she is] shy and quiet, hanging back from the crowd. [She is] forever known as ‘Scarlett’s friend Halley’” (22). Halley views Scarlett as having more confidence and a better sense of who she is, whereas Halley often describes herself as unfinished: “When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a coloring book, with the inside not yet completed […] Scarlett’s vibrant reds and golds helped some, but I was still waiting” (23). In this quote, Halley describes Scarlett as giving her personality some color and vibrancy, but Halley does not see herself as having much color or personality of her own.
Scarlett sees Halley differently than she sees herself. When Halley expresses doubt that Macon could ever truly be interested in her, Scarlett admonishes her: “Someone like you. Any guy would be damn lucky to have you, Halley […] You’re beautiful and smart and loyal and funny […] You’re special” (80). Scarlett wants better for Halley than Halley often wants for herself, reminding her. “This isn’t about him. It’s about you. You shouldn’t do anything you’re not ready for” (221). This quote illustrates how Scarlett encourages Halley to make decisions that have her best interest in mind. Halley decides not to have sex with Macon in part because Scarlett has taught her that “[she] deserve[s] to grow, and to change, to become all the girls [she can] ever be over the course of [her] life, each one better than the last” (243). Through their friendship, Halley learns the true measure of her own worth, encouraging her to make the decision to break up with Macon because he is not willing to offer her as much as she now knows she deserves.
As much as Halley believes that she does not add much to her relationships, Scarlett does rely heavily on Halley throughout the text, especially after learning that she is pregnant. When Scarlett decides not to have an abortion, she feels that no one in her life will understand her decision. When Halley assures her that she will support whatever choice Scarlett makes, Scarlett responds, “‘Except for you,’ she repeated, softly, looking up to smile at me. And from that moment, I never questioned her choice again” (113). This quote speaks to the level of trust between them, which empowers Scarlett to go through with the pregnancy because she knows that she will not be alone.
Scarlett’s pregnancy is a monumental moment in both her and Halley’s life and an experience through which their bond strengthens. Because Michael is no longer there to support Scarlett through her pregnancy, and Scarlett’s mother does not wish to be as involved, Halley steps in to act as Scarlett’s partner throughout the experience. This pregnancy teaches them both about the true depths of their inner strength. When the time comes for Scarlett to give birth, both girls are anxious about the process. Halley’s confidence falters momentarily until her mother reminds her that Halley is “the only one she wants” during the birthing process (274). This enables Halley to be brave and support her friend through the birthing process. Scarlett’s decision to give her baby, Grace, the middle name Halley speaks to the depth of their friendship and the role Halley played for her throughout the pregnancy, reiterating the centrality of friendship in the text.
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