What is the significance of the title of the novel?Įverything I Never Told You is a novel about secrets: all the things that people don't tell each other. Nath, the eldest and only boy of the family, struggles with his masculinity due to biases against Asian men, and his father's unresolved race issues. Hannah, the youngest daughter, feels invisible. However, Lydia continues to feel left out and ostracized by her peers. Lydia, favored for her fair complexion, is the subject of social pressure due to James's belief that she can easily assimilate. In addition, each of the Lee children struggles with their mixed-race identities. He is ultimately not given a position in the history department at Harvard due to his race. Aside from the discrimination he faces in his personal spheres, James experiences racial discrimination in the workplace. Doris warns Marilyn that her children will never fit in due to their mixed-race identity, a prophecy that eventually comes to fruition. This heightens James's insecurity concerning how he is perceived by members of his community. When Marilyn first notifies her mother, Doris, of her engagement, Doris fails to recognize her daughter's relationship as legitimate. How does race affect the characters in Everything I Never Told You? She chooses to displace her own dreams onto Lydia. Instead of going on to pursue her own career, Marilyn redirects her attention to Lydia.

During Marilyn's visit to the local hospital, she becomes frustrated by Dr. Additionally, Jack's mother, a doctor, is demonized for her decision to have a career.

Marilyn is unable to return to school without abandoning her family and receiving backlash. In Everything I Never Told You, motherhood and professionalism cannot coexist. She grows frustrated at the lack of choices in her life. Once she has children to care for, Marilyn is unable to pursue the dreams that she had previously put on hold. Shortly after, she becomes pregnant with Nath and must leave school. During Marilyn's junior year, she falls in love with James. When Marilyn attends Radcliffe College, she is subject to incessant harassment by her male peers at Harvard. Marilyn is constantly torn between following her own dreams of going to medical school and living up to her mother's domestic expectations. Throughout her life, Marilyn struggles between balancing her academic ambitions with the expectations placed on her as a woman in the mid-20th century.

How does Marilyn navigate being a woman with career ambitions?

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