Breaking The Cycle: Traumas and Compulsive Emotional Patterns in Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us Duology

Abstract

This thesis examines the traumas and compulsive emotional patterns present in Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us duology. The analysis will concentrate on emotional patterns and dispositions that are the result of traumatic experiences (in one case, inherited traumatic experiences), looking at the recurring patterns as well as the ways each character relates to these patterns and whether or not they are able to break the cycles or continue to pass on their own unprocessed emotional legacies. In the case of the protagonist, Lily, the question is whether she is able to break a pattern that seems to be repeating itself. In the case of Atlas and Ryle, the two other main characters, the traumas are not inherited, but the question is the same: whether they are able to shape their lives in a way that is not determined or crippled by their trauma. The duology does not provide an unequivocal answer – instead, it explores a variety of possible reactions and life models, creating a structure of parallels and contrasts.