46 pages • 1 hour read
Matthew QuickThe Silver Linings Playbook
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A 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
The Effects of Mental Illness and Therapy
Mental illness is a major theme in The Silver Linings Playbook. Pat and Tiffany both suffer from undiagnosed mental conditions, although in the movie version, Pat is described as having Bipolar disorder, and there are suggestions that Tiffany suffers from Borderline Personality disorder. In the book, Pat’s illness manifests as hallucinations (like his visions of Kenny G), outbursts of anger and violence, obsessive tendencies, and delusions (like his life being a movie produced by God).
Tiffany describes her condition as no longer knowing “how to communicate with the people [she] love[s]” (284). She is also irrational, obsessive, and depressed. Tiffany’s guilt over Tom’s death exacerbates her symptoms.
The football player Terrell Owens is also described as suffering from such extreme depression that he attempts suicide. He is also in therapy for his mental illness. Because he is a polarizing public figure, his condition is mocked by fans of opposing football teams. Pat’s condition is treated seriously and warily by his family members, but Owens’s struggles are fodder for sports gossip.
One of the major hurdles that the other characters in the novel face as they deal with Pat and Tiffany is an inability to understand their perspectives. Their reactions are unpredictable because they are based on a logic that only makes sense to each of them, respectively. The focus on empathy—both through Pat’s reading of The Bell Jar and his desire to be kind instead of right—shows that greater understanding is the only way to accept the mental conditions that are frustrating and frightening, even in beloved family members.
The fact that Tiffany and Pat are also in therapy, and that they are shown to make progress with the help of their therapists, shows the mental health profession in a positive light.
The Negative Consequences of Obsessions
Although the illnesses of Pat and Tiffany are the core of the novel, many of the characters have obsessive tendencies. The most significant example is the mania with which football fans worship the Eagles. Pat’s father’s moods—and even his happiness, to the extent that he can be happy—vacillate with the team’s performance. When Pat is mugged, Jake misses the most important game of the season, which bothers him even though Pat was hurt and needed him. In the parking lot where the Eagles fans mob Steve and his son, their behavior is almost cultish. Characters obsess over the minutiae of statistics, and family traditions are rooted in the rituals of game day.
Enthusiasm is benign, while obsession and zealotry lead to negative consequences. Obsessions take priority over all else. Pat’s father’s obsession with football leads him to smash his TV and to buy a new one, despite his wife’s disapproval. Tiffany obsesses over the dance performance, even remarking to Pat that if they do not win, she will consider him an enemy. In the novel, when someone is obsessed, they are no longer able to put other people’s needs first.
Faith in Happy Endings
In the beginning of the novel, Pat believes that the only stories worth telling are those with happy endings. To believe otherwise would be to admit that his own story might not end the way he wants it to. Pat spends most of the novel believing that there is only one happy ending for him: rekindling his relationship with Nikki. He cannot entertain the idea that there could be alternate happy endings to his story, or that his story might end on a negative note.
Pat’s commitment to optimism looks increasingly naïve as evidence of the end of his marriage begins to mount. His behavior also appears threatening as he ignores the letters that tell him Nikki never wants to see him again. As long as Pat has one happy ending in mind, he has a purpose to work towards. While Nikki is his obsession, he does not have to focus on other areas of personal growth or self-improvement. Without Nikki as the goal, Pat feels that he has no purpose.
The notion of a happy ending for someone Pat’s age is also a childlike notion. Even if Pat reunited with Nikki (his happy ending), he most likely would have decades left to live, and there would still be much of his story to tell. This is part of what Cliff wants Pat to see when he tells him that life is not like a movie, and that unhappy endings are part of life.
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By Matthew Quick
