Analyzing Decisions In Harper Lee's All The Bright Places

As many people get older, they begin to date others who have similar interests as themselves. When Finch and Violet grew up, however, they met on the top of a clock tower, about to jump to their deaths. They began to do everything together after they became partners in an assignment, from going on adventures to breaking into bookstores at two in the morning and reading books to each other. As they grew closer, however, a relationship began to blossom, and they became amazing friends, and eventually, partners. Sometimes, however I may question their decisions, evaluate how they see each other, and connect to them personally.

While I was reading All the Bright Places, I found myself questioning some of the decisions that Violet and Finch were making. One decision that I had questioned,

These behaviors would be more questionable if Finch did not have a history of depression and other mental illness, which somewhat explains his actions, but not completely. It was as if these jeopardous rituals were deadly drugs that contained all of the secrets to the universe: every unanswered questioned and thought was here :). He always seems to partake in these dangerous past times when life is not going the way he wants it to. He obviously has the intentions of hurting himself in the process of doing so, and even though he and Violet are together, he still wants to hurt himself. What makes this so confusing is that it is not as though he has a low self esteem, and feels as though he does not deserve to live, it is more along the lines of all he wants to do is die. He cares about Violet, yet he still wants to die. So Finch clearly is not a sociopath, because he loves others, yet, he still wants to die. Another character trait that I have been questioning is how does FInch know all of these facts about history and world records, when he is always out of school and getting mediocre grades. Throughout much of this novel he is either out of