Theodore Finch Timeline and Summary

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• Finch is on a ledge in a tall building, thinking about killing himself. He thinks about suicide all the time, but today offers a new twist: Violet Markey, one of the popular girls, is on the ledge, thinking about jumping too.
• Finch talks Violet down from the ledge. He also lets her take all the credit for being a hero and "saving" him.
• Later that day, he claims Violet as his partner for a project in U.S. Geography. They're going to tour the state together, taking in the sites.
• Finch and Violet start a relationship. After a few "wanders" to various tourist attractions, they're a full-blown item.
• All is well in the girlfriend department, but Finch has major troubles at home and school. His father is abusive, for one thing. And so is Roamer, a bro who's constantly starting fistfights with Finch.
• Finch also has a secret: He has bipolar disorder. He tries to manage his symptoms and fight his suicidal urges, but it's becoming more difficult by the day.
• Two really bad things happen back-to-back: Violet's parents forbid her from seeing Finch, and he gets expelled from school. On the upside, this makes it easier to hide his illness from V.
• Finch takes a bunch of sleeping pills, but changes his mind at the last minute. He has his stomach pumped at the hospital, then flees before they can get his name.
• He attends a suicide support group in a nearby town. There, he runs into his classmate, Amanda, who immediately rats him out to Violet.
• Violet confronts Finch. He gets super upset and runs away from home.
• Secretly, he "wanders" to five more places across Indiana. He sends Violet some mysterious texts about it, and leaves her a song at one of the stops; she'll find it after his death.
• Finch sends goodbye emails to all his nearest and dearest, then he drowns himself in the Blue Hole.