My best literature analysis

When your ex sent you an email

It's been nearly three months since our breakup, and just as I was getting ready to go to bed, an unexpected email from my ex suddenly brought tears to my eyes.

Hello Esther,

The photos have been developed. They look beautiful, so I feel like returning them to the owner. I'm doing well, and I hope you are too. Whenever you need me, I will always be a friend you can confide in.

Best wishes,

In school, I struggle a lot with literature analysis because I can't seem to find anything meaningful in those plain texts. However, when it comes to this email, I see so many things…

Me in my literature class vs me reading a short email from my ex

Let me break it down for you.

First chunk:

The photos have been developed. They look beautiful, so I feel like returning them to the owner.

Upon examining the photos, it becomes evident that all of them are personal photos, but none of them include pictures of us together. It appears she deliberately filtered out any such images. My weirdo detective friends, we can't be entirely certain about her intentions behind doing so. Hmm…

Second chunk:

I'm doing well, and I hope you are too.

This message is indeed quite tricky to interpret, especially regarding the sentence "I'm doing well." Here are two hypotheses based on the context provided:

Hypothesis 1: It's possible that my ex is genuinely doing well. Perhaps she didn't love me as deeply or didn't feel as attached in the first place, which allowed her to overcome the breakup quicker and with less difficulty than I did. (My angry brain snorts.)

Hypothesis 2: Alternatively, she might not be doing well, but she always claimed to be fine to avoid worrying me. I never fully believed it, and I would double-check multiple times (because I might get angry calls, okay but I did care a lot too)

Both hypotheses suggest different possible scenarios, and it's challenging to determine the true intentions.

Third chunk:

Whenever you need me, I will always be a friend you can confide in.

First of all, she showcased her intention to continue this relationship. From being just a "friend," she has already decided that it will be a friendship. There are several possible reasons for this choice:

1. She genuinely cares about me as a person, with or without being romantically involved.

2. She may feel guilty and want to compensate me in some way.

3. She could be aiming to present a civil relationship, either for her own sake or for the sake of others around her.

My weirdo detectives, there are so many things to unpack here. Hahahahahaha, I laughed so much that I cannot continue writing this anymore.

Oh oh oh! I forgot to tell you that I was very curious about why I tore down by this average email, so I emailed back with a request:

Can you send me a email with some random content like “hello hello hello”? I need a control group to understand the reason why I tore down.

I’m curious that if I get an email only has “hello hello hello” but from my ex, will my brain react to it? (Thinking)