Suzy’s primary conflicts with Franny and her peers, her plans to travel to Australia, and her fears about the world all stem from her inability to control events and to control other people. Suzy learns that life cannot be controlled at two main points in the novel: when she loses Franny’s friendship, and when she loses Franny when Franny dies in the ocean.

The news of Franny’s death is difficult for Suzy to comprehend for several reasons; Suzy is young and ill-equipped to deal with the loss and she feels shock because two days elapsed between the drowning and Suzy’s learning about it; she also experiences a lack of control at the funeral, feeling surprise and anger at the number of strangers who attend and the emotional reactions of Franny’s other friends. Suzy cannot accept her mother’s explanation that “[s]ometimes things just happen” (17) because Suzy cannot accept the uncontrollability of life’s events. Instead, Suzy fixates on a way to understand the tragedy scientifically. This rational approach to death leads Suzy to learn about Jamie and decide to seek his help: “I want him to restore some order to this world” (123).