Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses a relationship with an imbalanced power dynamic and accidental animal death.

Varsity novels are often about the transition from adolescence into adulthood, and that is certainly part of Come and Get It’s thematic focus. Two characters in particular, Millie Cousins and Kennedy Washburn, centralize this thematic concern in their character arcs. Both lend insight into the ways that adulthood is marked by the recognition that complex problems cannot be resolved by straightforward solutions.

For Kennedy, coming to the University of Arkansas presents itself as a solution that allows her to escape her past without truly confronting it. However, her inability to gain the community and mentorship she desires suggests that physically leaving the site of her pain is not the straightforward solution it seems. It isn’t until Chapter 15 that the reader understands why she has transferred there from Iowa, other than the fact that she is eager to be in the orbit of Agatha Paul, one of her favorite writers. Her escape from the academic community that shuns her after her role and reaction to Sadie’s accidental death is the only corridor she sees toward a return to the stable life she had enjoyed in college.