“‘I know it doesn’t make much sense to you now,’ said his father. ‘But the truth is, relationships evolve over time.’

No, no. This was all wrong. ‘Evolve’? The continued development of a genotype as it interacts with its environment over millions of years—that’s evolution. Mutations in DNA sequence? Evolution. The differing beaks on finches in the Galapagos Islands: evolution. This was not evolution. This was the opposite of evolution.”

This passage also introduces the recurring symbolism of evolution and devolution. Ben initially believes that his parents’ divorce is a form of devolution and that this is the opposite of what he needs. This belief causes Ben to emotionally and physically avoid his parents, which ironically breaks him apart from his family in the same way that he worries divorce will. This internal monologue also characterizes Ben as intelligent, scientific, and logical, leaving him ill-prepared to handle familial conflict, which is rooted in emotions.

“Charlotte was excited that she was going to dissect a starfish. The impending assignment had taken her down several rabbit holes—starfish led to marine invertebrates; marine invertebrates led to sea anemones; sea anemones led to fossil records—but as she followed her mother to the recovery room, heart thumping with her footsteps, an image sprang into her head and she couldn’t shake it out: the starfish, a scalpel, and her hand on both. And then the starfish was gone and it was her father instead.”

This passage illustrates The Impact of Family Dynamics on Young People. Charlotte has trouble processing her father’s heart attack and attempts to distract herself by focusing on other topics, such as the upcoming starfish dissection in science class. However, the images of the starfish and her father blend into one, representing the impact of this traumatic event on Charlotte. She is characterized in parallel with Ben here, through meditations on scientific phenomena, likewise sketching her out as an inquisitive and intelligent kid.