The Deal

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape, child abuse, and physical abuse.

Music symbolizes a safe, healthy outlet for Hannah’s emotional vulnerability, and she finds comfort in this activity after her experience with sexual assault. Since she was a child, “music has always been an escape for [her]” (67), and when she sings, she lets go of external issues and embraces a deep sense of tranquility. Even when her body did not feel her own after the rape, Hannah’s singing voice and gift for composition have served as a powerful vessel for her emotions, granting her a vital form of self-expression.

While Hannah is frustrated by Cass’s inability to work as a team in the upcoming showcase, her private experiences of singing for Garrett ameliorate her stress, and her “head clears and [her] heart feels lighter” (68). Thus, music makes her “whole again, […] just like it did after the rape” (68). In this sense, music becomes a healing and restorative force for Hannah. By creating scenes in which Hannah’s delight in music is associated with Garrett’s presence, Kennedy subtly alludes to the fact that he will also become a healing and restorative change in her life.