A Photo Finish

After Cole and Violet end their online relationship in the wake of their one-sided video sex, Cole continues to send Violet daily messages about his thoughts and feelings. In the narrative present timeline, Violet discovers these messages on Cole’s computer when she hikes down to retrieve his backup prosthesis. While Violet notes that Cole’s commitment to communicating with her is touching, she’s struck more intensely by frustration that this isn’t true communication. Instead, he has been using the chat, which he knows she doesn’t read, as a kind of workaround that lets him avoid being honest with her. The messages therefore represent the novel’s thematic development of The Merit of Progress Over Perfection in Mental Healthcare.

Despite Violet’s frustration, however, the messages aren’t meaningless to Cole; instead, they’re a tool that helps him articulate his feelings and gain comfort in communicating them to another person. Sending the messages, which become more emotionally revelatory over time, helps him learn to feel safe while being vulnerable. Nevertheless, sending the messages isn’t an endpoint for Cole’s emotional development, and Violet pushes him to continue this progress in person, since he needs to admit his feelings to her face in order to establish an open, authentic relationship with the woman he loves.