The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to terminal illness, mental illness, and attempted suicide.

The need to avoid losing her magic as a result of heartbreak is the main motivation that drives Sadie, but as she seeks to protect herself from heartbreak, she risks cutting herself off from the possibility of love. She builds an identity around helping people through her magic, but she uses this identity as a shield against the need to form any real emotional connections. Ultimately, the narrative suggests that Sadie’s tendency to protect herself from heartbreak is actually what puts her most at risk of experiencing it.

Sadie’s tendency to distance herself from people who can hurt her is an important aspect of her identity. Her sense of self is closely tied to her magic, which she insists on using to help people. However, she uses helping people as a way to avoid heartbreak. Seth directly addresses this tendency of Sadie’s, telling her “People should like you for you. Not what you do for them. You’re always afraid people are going to leave, so you do anything you can to make them stay” (45). Randall thus emphasizes the paradoxical nature of Sadie’s self-protective tendency: That she avoids letting herself get too close to people in order to ensure that they will stay.