Symbolism in Wintergirls

I am currently reading the intriguing book Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is about a girl named Lia who, along with her best friend Cassie, vowed to be the skinniest girl at school. Lia and Cassie are dangerously skinny. Then, Cassie tragically dies. In this book, I am finding a reoccurring theme of blood.  Lia, the protagonist, uses blood to describe situations she is in.

Right after Lia hears the news about Cassie from her stepmother Jennifer, she is in the kitchen making cookies. She takes out a knife from a drawer. She thinks, "Here stands a girl clutching a knife. There is grease on the stove, blood in the air, and angry words piled in the corners." Here, Lia is describing the mood of the scene. She is pretending to be unhurt by Cassie's death, but really, she is devastated. The cookies are covering up her emotions, but she and Jennifer both feel Cassie's emptiness, as if her blood is in the air.

About ten minutes later, Jennifer hands Lia her empty coffee mug. "She hands the heavy mug to me, her lipstick a bloody crescent on the rim." This shows that many different things remind Lia of blood, such as her stepmother's lipstick. Instead of calling it red, Lia calls it bloody. I am curious as to why Lia is reminded of blood so often. That's another reference Lia makes to blood.

I wonder why Lia is so drawn to blood that she makes so many references to it. One idea of mine is that she likes the idea that when there is blood outside of her, there is less inside of her, because she wants to be so skinny. Maybe Laurie Halse Anderson included this theme of blood because it represents Lia's thinness. Also, because Lia is holding so many emotions in, blood might be a symbol for what's inside of her being apparent in the air  outside of and around her. It might be a way of letting her feelings out. That might be what blood represents in Wintergirls.

In this book, blood is a symbol for Lia's emotions. I hope that Lia starts letting her feelings out verbally to her family.  I think it would make her happier.