45 pages • 1 hour read
All This Time
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Themes
Fact Versus Fiction
In All This Time, Daughtry and Lippincott play with the blurred lines between fact and fiction. Before the coma, Kyle lies to himself in an attempt to make his life seem perfect. He creates his own fiction through perception. He sees his relationship with Kimberly as ideal, a literal teenage dream: He plays football; she’s a cheerleader. He also sees his friendship with Sam as unbreakable, with Kyle, Sam, and Kimberly making a trifecta that supports Kyle. Though he has to deal with fact, such as the reality of his football career ending, he still idealizes the people in his life and his own future. Kyle doesn’t like to deal with uglier realities, so he creates a fictitious perception of a dreamy teenage life.
Kyle is prompted into another fantasy during his coma. He believes he is living a new life with Marley, getting over Kim’s death, and finding opportunities to live a happy life. When Kyle comes out of the coma, he discovers that this life was just a fantasy. It feels incredibly real to him, even as he acknowledges his coma.
