Suicide In Theodore Finch's All The Bright Places

In the novel All the Bright Places, Theodore Finch is a victim of suicide and can be psychologically analyzed in order to show that his death was preventable. In a deep and meaningful passage, Finch describes that “you can’t stop people from dying. You can’t stop them from going away. You can’t stop yourself from going away either” (Niven). He is utterly hopeless and accepted that he will kill himself, has lost interest in life, and fallen into “the asleep” as he calls it or past the point of recover. But based on the accounts at the Golden Gate Bridge, everyone (including Finch) can be helped, even at their darkest moments (Briggs). The intensity of depression is described very personally when Finch explains his beliefs of the world; that

One of the most important quotes in the novel is when Finch rants about his mental illness, but he is unable to change his state on his own. The people around him cause him anger, showing signs of bipolar disorder in Finch when he says, “I’m the troublemaker. I start fights. I let people down. Don’t make Finch mad, whatever you do. Oh, there he goes again, in one of his moods. Moody Finch. Angry Finch. Unpredictable Finch. Crazy Finch. But I’m not a compilation of symptoms… Not a problem. Not a diagnosis. Not an illness. Not something to be rescued. I’m a person” (Niven). Multiple sides of Finch are uncontrollable and obviously known by many because he has bipolar disorder, “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks”, but nothing was done to help him (“Bipolar Disorder”). Even when Finch has the girl of his dreams and nothing is overwhelmingly difficult in his life, he is still depressed because it is an illness, not a phase. He says, “‘I should be happy, but instead I feel nothing… as if whatever makes me feel… has been surgically removed, leaving me hollowed out like a shell’” (Niven). All of these feelings that Theodore has are direct symptoms of someone struggling with depression, and his death could have been prevented if these signs would have been

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