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58 pages 1 hour read

Natalie Sue

I Hope This Finds You Well

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

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Themes

Judgment Versus Empathy

A central theme of the novel concerns the contrasting thought patterns of judgment and empathy, as well as the way that each affects outcomes in interpersonal situations.

As the novel opens, Jolene is firmly entrenched in a habit of judging other people harshly. In so doing, she often makes poorly supported assumptions about their motives and intentions. Significantly, as opposed to empathy, judgment does not involve a lack of imagination about how others may be thinking or feeling. Instead, it involves imagining—and projecting onto others—the most damaging explanations for their behavior, whether or not those explanations are reasonable. Although Jolene judges various characters throughout the novel, she is perhaps most explicit and consistent in her condemnation of Caitlin, whom she considers to be vain, manipulative, and ineffective. For instance, after Jolene discovers that several of Caitlin’s passwords consist of self-affirmations, Jolene barely restrains herself from laughing while thinking, “No wonder she’s so cocky” (82). In this instance, Jolene’s interpretation is not only inaccurate, but also fully the opposite of the truth: Caitlin is deeply insecure. To a more empathetic person, Caitlin’s passwords could be read as a call for help, and rightly so. This demonstrates the end result of judgmental thinking, which tends to produce distance and animosity between people. As part of a vicious cycle, Caitlin is no less judgmental of Jolene than Jolene is of her.

As the novel progresses, Jolene begins to realize that other people are just as complex and emotionally vulnerable as she is. This sets her on the path to a new way of approaching others with empathy. Under this pattern of thinking, Jolene imagines what life is like from other people’s perspectives without jumping to conclusions or making snap judgments about them. In her relationships with Cliff, Rhonda, Armin, and others, Jolene develops empathy gradually as she comes to understand their points of view. Here, as well, Caitlin is a special case, as Jolene remains resentful and judgmental of her almost to the end of the novel. Her perception of Caitlin finally begins to shift after she overhears a conversation between Caitlin and her boyfriend, Kyle, who is clearly abusive. In an epiphany, Jolene realizes that she has been misjudging Caitlin all along: “All the time I spent watching Caitlin… I just didn’t properly look. I didn’t see. All her recent anxious moments shine differently, in a way I know too well. I didn’t want to see” (281). From that moment on, Jolene views Caitlin with understanding and compassion. The results, while not immediate, contrast sharply with the outcomes brought on by judgment: Jolene’s influence helps Caitlin find the strength to leave her abusive boyfriend, and the two finally learn to respect one another. Empathy, not judgment, marks the path to harmonious relationships.

Alienation and Dehumanization in the Modern Workplace

Throughout the novel, Natalie Sue draws attention to the ways in which the modern workplace can, if not properly moderated, tend to produce feelings of alienation and dehumanization among employees.

Alienation involves a feeling of disconnection or isolation from others. Within the novel, alienation tends to set in as a result of the way that employees at Supershops view themselves within the context of their work. Signs of alienation may include boredom, apathy, and unsociability. Among the major characters, Jolene and Armin seem most prone to experience feelings of alienation at work, and Jolene frequently catches Armin staring mindlessly off into space. Among other factors, perceiving one’s work as tedious or meaningless seems to engender feelings of alienation. On one occasion, Jolene notes that a particular employee “has been hunched over the printer in front of his pod for the past fifteen minutes, watching sheets of paper spit out in one-second intervals like some twisted form of corporate meditation” (207). Even more socially minded employees, such as Cliff, can experience a sense of alienation in situations where their official roles and responsibilities require them to go against their human instincts for kindness, as Cliff must do in firing Larry. In short, by viewing human resources as just that—resources—companies like Supershops pave the way for those employees to lose touch with themselves.

Sue also draws attention to a second, related effect in the way that the corporate environment tends to cause employees to dehumanize each other. Here, the emphasis is on the way that people view each other, rather than themselves. As Jolene memorably suggests, “Everyone in Supershops is using each other” (195). While this phenomenon can be observed in a variety of situations, it is perhaps most easily apparent in Gregory’s attitudes and behavior toward lower-ranking employees, whom he sees primarily as a means to an end, that end being the padding of his corporate checkbook. To him, employees are resources to be squeezed dry, not individuals worth investing in; he thus rejects Cliff’s suggestion that the company take steps to prioritize mental health. He likewise makes blatantly hurtful comments, as when he warns Caitlin not to let her engagement take a toll on her work performance. By positioning employees over or against one another in the search for profit, companies like Supershops risk encouraging them to dehumanize each other.

Fortunately, Sue acknowledges that such outcomes are not necessarily unavoidable. To some extent, they can be avoided as individuals make career choices that are in line with their personal values, as Jolene and Cliff do as the novel concludes. The fact that Cliff meets with some Supershops employees in his new capacity as an employee advocate suggests that any company willing to make changes can take positive strides toward protecting employees’ mental health.

Trust and Authenticity in Parent-Child Relationships

Through her examination of several differing parent-child relationships, Sue highlights trust and authenticity as key factors for the success of such relationships.

Jolene’s relationship with her parents features most prominently in the novel. As the novel opens, Jolene shares neither trust nor authenticity with her parents. Instead, she fears what they would say if they knew the full extent of her social isolation and middling career prospects. While Jolene works to hide the truth of her situation from her parents, Armin goes even further in his efforts to please his parents, effectively inventing an engagement to Jolene in order to comfort his dying mother. Like Jolene, Armin would rather present a comforting lie than a harsh truth to his parents.

Children aren’t the only ones to lie, however, as Rhonda effectively demonstrates. To her coworkers, Rhonda presents her son Carl as a sterling success story, and her relationship with him as a vital and close one. In fact, the opposite is true, as Carl, who has an unspecified addiction, no longer visits or contacts Rhonda except to ask for money, which she refuses to give him. Although Rhonda lies to others about Carl, she never lies to Carl. In her letter to Jolene at the novel’s end, Rhonda insists, “I was always proud of Carl, never ashamed. I just didn’t think the world would understand, so I did what a mom does, I protected him” (315). As she comes to understand Rhonda’s feelings toward Carl, Jolene recognizes elements of her own relationship with her mother. As Jolene realizes, if Rhonda could remain loyal and loving toward Carl despite his struggles, perhaps her parents would still love her even if she opened up to them about her own struggles.

Inspired in part by Rhonda’s example, as well as Cliff’s relationship with his grandmother, Jolene does open up to her parents, just as Armin comes clean to his parents. In each case, they find that their parents still welcome and love them. As Jolene’s mother explains, “So much of the things I was hoping to protect you from I couldn’t. But I will always be here for you” (313). Despite her mother’s disappointment and sorrow at some of Jolene’s revelations, Jolene finds that the moment after she opens up is “the first time something has felt like home with her in forever” (313). She also schedules a lunch with her father shortly thereafter. Only by trusting her parents enough to offer her authentic self to them does Jolene open the way for them to meaningfully communicate with her instead of getting lost in a maze of made-up successes.

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