One of the more in-your-face themes in The Sky is Everywhere is mortality—and not in a-people-coping-with-the-idea-that-they-will-someday-die type of way. The book is all about how death affects the living who are left behind. Each Walker mourns differently: Gram hides her crying (by doing it at night or in the shower) and fixates on taking care of Lennie; Uncle Big smokes much more than he usually does; and Toby pulls dangerous stunts on his skateboard.
For her part, Lennie does a ton of things to cope, from writing poetry to playing music to kissing Toby. But it seems that, for all characters, healing after Bailey's death requires not forgetting about Bailey, but learning to be happy despite the tragedy of her death.
Questions About Mortality
- Why does Lennie avoid and, at some points, resent Gram when they are both mourning Bailey's death?
- Does Lennie's conception of mourning and loss change from Part 1 to Part 2 of the story? If so, how does it change? If not, what do you make of this?
- When coping with the death of a loved one, people often cite the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Does Lennie go through these stages? If so, which parts of the story represent each stage?
- Describe how each of the Walker characters have changed since Bailey's death.
Chew on This
The different ways in which Bailey's loved ones mourn reveal something about each of their personalities.
Only when Lennie truly faces Bailey's death can she move on.