We Need To Talk About Kevin Analysis

Superior Essays
Given the title of Lionel Shriver’s novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, one would assume that the book would in fact, talk about Kevin. This is not the case. Shriver highlights the character Kevin, but he is far from, what some would consider, the “main character”. She addresses the obvious blatant thought in our minds, that is we want to talk about Kevin, through the title then steers the audience towards a novel of consequential actions and healing amidst pain from people like Kevin. This notion is both thought provocative and leads to the conclusion that no, we do not need to talk about Kevin. We need to talk about the lives broken and the victims of his violence. Shriver’s novel is an ode to the mending and healing in the aftermath of a …show more content…
The nature of the book as a diary speaks volumes to the purpose of the novel. When one thinks of a diary, one thinks of a personal and sensitive book full of thoughts and worries and secrets only to be known to the paper, pen and author. Because of this highly personal relationship, often times individuals can engage in rants or dialogues in their minds with people of their past or people they had hoped to talk to, fantasies, it is really whatever sparks the intrigue of the writer. This is exactly the case with Eva. Her diary is cathartic. She writes to her past. Her writings are full of memoirs. Small intimate moments she shared with Franklin, from the time the fell in love to their arguments over having a child to the eventual breakdown of their marriage to her self pity and mourning a loss unfathomable to the acceptance and forgiveness she starts to portray at the end of the novel. It is at the end of the novel does the diary also prove to be cathartic to the readers as well, there is a sense of peace, Not because we have made peace with Kevin’s actions, that is Eva’s peace. Our peace as readers comes from Eva’s peace. We are taken on the continuity of Eva’s sad life and follow her emotional roller coaster for the entirety of the plot. The grand finale being, Eva tying it all together and declaring that she has set a room aside for Kevin and almost lovingly places his favorite Robin Hood book in the new room, gives the readers …show more content…
Kevin is what brings all the threads together. He is the underlying cause of the consequences that need to be addressed. If we think of Kevin as “the tragedy” the title would be We Need to Talk About the Tragedy the tragedy is not the person Kevin but the choices of Kevin and the consequences of the choices are where the tragedy lies and in that case, the real underlying issue. Kevin gleefully describes how people watch “people like him” for entertainment, which is in fact very much true and shows how Kevin feeds on the attention and indicative of the fact that Shriver crafted him to manipulate not only his family but also all of America. Her title choice seems to be an ironic innuendo towards Kevin’s egomaniac desire for attention. Almost like a last laugh, “yes the title is named for you, but we will not talk about

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