Get a Life, Chloe Brown

Chloe and Red each struggle to heal from past trauma in Get a Life, Chloe Brown. This trauma manifests differently for both, but it similarly affects their ability to trust themselves and others. Throughout the text, Red and Chloe begin to heal from their trauma which enables them to better support one another.

After Chloe’s fibromyalgia diagnosis, she faced desertion from people around her that she trusted and loved. She has an unwavering support system in her family, but her friends and former fiancé questioned the extent of her illness, or if she was even ill at all. This leaves Chloe with some deep-seated trust issues, and the feeling that she is “easy to leave” (74). She states: “She’d learned the hard way that people were always looking for a reason to leave, that affection or adoration or promises of devotion turned to dust when things got tough” (74). This mindset negatively affects her relationships, including her relationship with Red, because she views connections, even ones as strong as love, as fallible and easily broken.

Through the creation and completion of her Get a Life list, and through her relationship with Red, Chloe begins the process of recovering from her abandonment issues.