49 pages • 1 hour read
Meghan QuinnSo This Is War
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Power Dynamics in Relationships
The novel uses Levi Posey’s, Wylie Wood’s, and Coach Wood’s entanglements to explore how relationship power dynamics complicate the individual’s sense of autonomy, stability, and trust. The three characters are embroiled in a battle for control throughout the novel. Levi wants to be with Wylie, but Wood has forced him to hire her as his assistant and make her life miserable. Wylie wants to be with Levi, but she must work for him to prove herself to her dad. Therefore, Wood has incited an imbalanced power dynamic that threatens the characters’ ability to pursue healthy, equanimous relationships.
Throughout the novel, the characters attempt to beat one another at their games to claim autonomy over their lives and exercise their agency. Wylie becomes particularly invested in teasing and toying with Levi because she wants “to prove a point to two men” (195): She’s determined to get revenge on Levi for going along with her dad’s setup and to punish her dad for setting her up to fail. Her attempts to outwit Levi are thus a manifestation of her desire for autonomy. The imbalanced power dynamic between her and Levi is the result of her fraught relationship with her father. Therefore, the novel illustrates how one imbalanced relationship might beget another and in turn complicate the individual’s ability to make their own choices and lead an independent, self-motivated life.
Levi’s power dynamic with Wood similarly distorts Levi’s ability to be himself and to follow his own moral code. For example, Levi cannot treat Wylie the way he normally would because he is beholden to Wood. He feels so guilty for giving Wylie Wood’s menial tasks that he “actually fe[els] nauseous at one point” and has to sit on the edge of his bed “with a trash can in hand” (104). Levi’s physiological response to mistreating Wylie reveals how trapped he feels in his relationship with Wood. The setup is humiliating to Levi because this is “not the man [he is]” (104). His imbalance of power with Wood also compels him to let his friends down. He retreats from his relationships with his teammates because he fears revealing the truth of Wood’s setup and betraying his coach. In these ways, the novel captures the unhealthy repercussions of imbalances of power and how a lack of autonomy might threaten an individual’s integrity. Once the characters resolve these relational complexities, they are better able to be true to themselves and relate to one another with honesty and openness.
Identity and Self-Discovery Through Love
How loving relationships fuel an individual’s self-discovery and personal growth is explored through Levi and Wylie’s evolving romance. In the early portions of the novel, Wylie and Levi compartmentalize their feelings for one another to satisfy the conditions of their respective arrangements with Wood. They each have their own set of personal desires, dreams, and needs. However, they find it challenging to be themselves and to pursue these aspirations when they aren’t free to engage with one another in a way that aligns with their feelings.
In Levi’s storyline, he is forced to uphold an inauthentic persona in order to satisfy Wood. Pretending to be someone he’s not complicates his ability to mature and develop new relationships, ideas, and pathways for himself. On the outside, Levi seems “[k]ind of goofy, but also tough and dangerous” (363). At times, he “can be self-centered, thinking he is God’s gift to the world” (363). While these are some of Levi’s traits, Wood’s arrangement compels him to fully embody these facets of his identity in a way that feels imbalanced and unhealthy to him. Therefore, once Levi can open up to Wylie and enter a relationship with her, he’s able to be himself. The real Levi is selfless, thoughtful, and giving, and he “thinks of [Wylie] all the time and [her] needs, not his” (363). Levi does show these qualities with his other friends, but his romance with Wylie brings out these traits. Wylie teaches him to embrace his goodness because she allows him to care for her and to express his love in ways that feel true to him. In these ways, Wylie’s love for Levi makes Levi a better person and helps him honor the more caring, empathetic aspects of his identity.
In Wylie’s storyline, Levi’s love for Wylie empowers her and encourages her to pursue her artistic goals. Even before falling in love with Levi, Wylie knew she wanted to pursue a future in art and was determined to realize this dream no matter the risks. However, once she and Levi are together, she gains a support system. Levi constantly assures Wylie that “[i]f [she’s] passionate about something, then [he’s] going to believe in [her] and support [her]” (353). He compliments her artwork, but he also helps her formulate distinct plans for her future and takes joy in her successes along the way. In these ways, Levi cherishes the fundamental facets of Wylie’s identity. Art is not just a hobby for Wylie, but an extension of who she is. In loving and supporting her art, Levi cares for Wylie and empowers her to love and cherish herself. The author thus captures how loving, reciprocal relationships might grant each individual confidence and assuredness in their own life.
Balance Between Personal and Professional Life
Levi and Wylie’s complex interpersonal relationship challenges them to seek a balance between their personal and professional lives. Because Levi and Wylie are both beholden to Wood after he demands that Wylie work as Levi’s personal assistant, neither Levi nor Wylie can act on their feelings for one another. Their arrangement forces their personal and professional lives to merge. They not only have to spend all their time together, but they also must live in the same space and navigate their new working dynamic while tamping down their sexual and romantic feelings for each other. The parameters of their relationship thus complicate their ability to separate their personal, love, and sex lives from their work life. This embodies the forced proximity trope, which is used in the novel to explore how blurred lines between various arenas of the individual’s life might challenge them as a person and a professional.
The toggles between Levi’s and Wylie’s first-person points of view show the characters’ internal struggles to find balance. The alternating voices incite tension between the characters’ overlapping social spheres and emotional experiences. For example, in Chapter 2, Levi’s narration reveals his fraught feelings over Wood’s assignment: “I try to come up with a scenario where none of this will be weird and awkward, but the more I think about it, the more I regret agreeing to hire Coach Wood’s daughter” (44). In Chapter 3, Wylie’s narration then reveals her response to the arrangement considering her and Levi’s immediate attraction a year prior: “I would have kept going back. So this, this right here, trying to act like that night meant nothing, is uncomfortable to say the least. Painful actually” (52). The characters’ internal monologues echo one another while augmenting the narrative tension. Both characters try to dismiss their personal feelings to maintain professionalism in their new working arrangement. The internal conflicts they experience as a result cause them to behave in increasingly distorted ways over the course of the novel. Their hyperbolic behaviors are the result of their singular working arrangement and their desperation to maintain personal and professional integrity.
Levi and Wylie’s struggles to reconcile their personal and professional lives illustrate how overlaps in these competing realms might lead to complex interpersonal dynamics. Levi and Wylie both want to be true to themselves. However, their attempts to be professional effectively quash their more authentic identities throughout most of the novel. Once the characters decide to open up about how hard it is to navigate their relationship, they learn how to balance their various roles more sustainably. The novel thus reiterates the importance of openness, honesty, and communication both in the context of the individual’s personal and professional relationships and worlds.
