Being Henry David

Chapters 8-11 usher Danny toward a crossroads: Continue deceiving Hailey and Thomas or admit the truth about his amnesia. So far in Concord, Danny has done everything in his power to conceal his confused circumstances. He withholds information from Hailey and Thomas even as he grows closer to them: He lies to Thomas that he’s homeschooled when he goes to the library in Chapter 8 and maintains the lie about potentially moving to Concord with Hailey. Danny’s reluctance to reveal his memory loss to his new friends conveys his fear of being discovered to be a monstrous person: Identity in the Absence of Memory becomes a potentially dangerous piece of information. Danny’s destabilized identity complicates his ability to form connections with others, keeping him from finding the allies and friends he needs to overcome his ongoing personal challenges. Since Danny cannot easily relate to other people, the most helpful of his new acquaintances instead work hard to relate to Danny. Thomas models the importance of sharing painful truths in Chapter 9 by telling Danny about “some [of the] really bad stuff” (141) he’s faced: his criminal past and youthful mistakes. In return, Danny confides his own truth to Thomas, exhibiting signs of personal growth by showing that he realizes that he needs others’ help. Thomas instead challenges Danny to think about his past in a more nuanced manner: Thomas’s personal experiences of pain and loss show that missteps along the way to adulthood do not condemn a person to a life of misery. The knowledge that Danny’s past doesn’t have to define him gives him the courage to look more concertedly into who he might be and what he may have experienced.

The many forms of assistance that Thomas offers Danny cast him in the role of a father figure, paying off Danny’s initial mistaken impression that Thomas might even be his actual father. Before Danny asks Thomas for help, Danny feels like “a lost boy who has done something too terrible to remember” and “a trespasser into a world where [he doesn’t] belong” (134). But after Thomas steps in, these emotions dissipate. Thomas’s openness, patience, and empathy give Danny emotional support, while Thomas’s practical intervention—buying Danny food, asking a nurse friend to treat his infection, giving him a place to stay, and offering Danny paid work at the library—creates a more physically secure setting. Moreover, Thomas validates Danny’s intellectual interests by bantering about Walden. Finally, Thomas offers psychological advice as well, helping Danny start his research “on memory and memory loss,” suggesting Danny search “the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children” (163). 

While the novel’s conceit—amnesia—is an unusual experience that few readers will personally relate to, its adherence to coming-of-age genre tropes also embraces more universal markers of adolescent development. For instance, Danny’s growing connection with Hailey explores the teens’ growing understanding of their sexuality. Danny finds Hailey attractive, is drawn to her singing ability, and is eager to impress her with his guitar playing—elements that model the functional progression of teenage romantic interest. While Danny’s honest conversations with Thomas cast them in the roles of parents and child, Hailey opening up to Danny about her diabetes creates a different kind of intimacy. Her confession does not prompt Danny to tell her the truth; rather, he internalizes her romantic and sexual interest as validation. Kissing her makes him feel that he is not “such a bad person after all” (160). Hailey therefore lets Danny seem himself as a normal teenager, rather than someone whose unusual life circumstances make him a perpetual outsider.