What are the motifs in Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld?

When people share traumatic or very serious experiences, they tend to become closer. This is true in the case of M.N., Elizabeth and Betsy. All three of the girls begin the story relatively secure and comfortably situated in safe, happy friendships. What the girls go through with Lisa Shilling, however, challenges what they know about life and about normalcy. Elizabeth has already been through what Lisa is experiencing right now. Lisa relates to Elizabeth in a way that she does not relate to M.N. or Betsy. Lisa can sense something of her troubled self in Elizabeth. Unlike Betsy and M.N., though, Elizabeth knows what Lisa will have to go through to recover from her mental distress.