James Coleman
Themes
Identity
Evan Hansen, the main character of the novel struggles with finding his identity. He has sever social anxiety and therefore has few friends and overthinks every situation. The novel narrates his quest to find himself, but in order to do so he lies and ultimately ends up right back where he started. But, the ordeal did highlight what was important to him, and even if he ended up in the same place, he had more of an identity at the end than he started with.
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Mental Health
Mental health is a serious problem and is only in recent times beginning to be addressed. So many people, teens especially, do no know who they are and struggle to express themselves in a world that is very constrictive. Mental health is extremely important and this novel explores the effect that it can have on a person's character.
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Roles of Social Media
Social media is playing an increasingly important role in society. While it has its benefits, such as connecting the world and providing an outlet for expressing yourself, social media also has many negative connotations. News is able to spread within seconds and there is more pressure to keep up an appearance for the hundreds or thousands of people that follow you. Dear Evan Hansen exemplifies the effect that social media has when The Connor Project is started and goes viral within days.
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