55 pages • 1 hour read
Monica WoodHow to Read a Book
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Parrots
Content Warning: This section includes a brief mention of sexual assault.
The parrots symbolize communication, freedom, memory, and the healing power of language and connection. Known for their remarkable ability to mimic human speech, they become instrumental in Violet’s journey to understand the impact of language on connection. The parrots’ uncanny knack for learning her name, mimicking phrases, and remembering serenades, showcases how language transcends barriers, forging unlikely friendships. Dr. Petrov’s pioneering work enables breakthroughs in communication and enhances human understanding beyond mere words. Amidst her interactions with the parrots, Violet finds that the most profound communication often transcends verbal language, manifesting in the peace and comfort she derives from the birds’ warmth and presence.
Moreover, the parrots embody the struggle between freedom and captivity. Naturally inclined to soar the skies, they find themselves confined within cages in Dr. Petrov’s lab. This confinement strikes a chord with Violet, reflecting her encounters with physical and emotional constraints. Her work with the parrots becomes instrumental in her journey to come to terms with her past, choices, and the limitations with which she grapples. The parrots’ yearning for freedom parallels Violet’s aspirations to break free from emotional and physical constraints, symbolizing her resolve to liberate Ollie from the confines of the lab and Dr. Petrov’s expectations of him.
The Field
The field reflects the stark contrast between freedom and imprisonment. While the jail is a place of confinement and punishment, the expansive field represents the possibility of liberty. This contrast emphasizes the tension between Violet’s physical confinement and her longing for emotional or psychological liberation. Just visible through the window within the prison, the field is a reminder of the world outside the prison walls, where life continues in its natural, unrestricted form. The field’s proximity to the prison represents the paradox of freedom. While it represents hope, Violet is separated from it by razor wire, a continual reminder of her incarcerated condition. Harriet notices the symbolic juxtaposition, “She pulled over next to the field, now purpled with tiny flowers, barbed wire sculpting the top of the rise” (160). Like the brief respite of Book Club, glimpses of the lush field underscore the challenges of prison life and the ever-presence of hope and despair. Thus, the field becomes a symbol of the complexity of the inmates’ experiences, where the possibility of liberation is always present but just out of reach.
The field’s condition mirrors the passing of time as Violet watches it wither and die in the winter and burst forth with life again in the spring. Witnessing the changing seasons through the field represents optimism and the chance for atonement, rebirth, and renewal. For Violet, the field is an untouchable yet visible emblem of a fresh start, of life continuing despite past failures. Just as the field grows green again in the spring, Violet has hope for life after the death of her old self.
After leaving the prison, Violet asks Vicki to let her stop at the field and feel the grass on her bare feet. Touching the field after so many months of longing symbolizes the beginning of Violet’s healing process, as the simple beauty of nature briefly puts her mind at ease. The text describes her joy, “I am suddenly, somehow, miraculously gawking at this waking-up field in the free open air” (24). Similarly, when Harriet leaves the prison for the last time, she stops near the field and considers the open possibilities that lay ahead.
Faith and Religion
Violet wrestles with feelings of abandonment by God and struggles to reconcile her religious upbringing with her personal experiences, especially after facing intense suffering and injustice. Her experiences in prison have altered her view of God as she feels that indiscriminately He gives some people more pain and grief than others. Moreover, her community’s inability to forgive her, a tenet of the Christian faith, makes her doubt the truth of religion. Listening to Aunt’s condemnation, Violet thinks Aunt Pammy acts “As if God, wherever he is, doesn’t know my name” (191).
However, Violet’s break with religion came long before her incarceration. When Pastor Rick sexually assaulted her and told her she should have sex with him to become closer to God, it forever changed the way she views leaders of the church and religion, by extension. Harriet and Frank both bond over their Catholic upbringing, but each, in their own way, has left their faith traditions behind and embraced a more nuanced and fluid version of faith in their older age. Driving Violet to visit her mother’s grave, Frank thinks, “He had little use for God these days, and yet a feeling came over him, so urgent and instructive as to be nearly a physical voice: You belong exactly here, exactly now” (179). Harriet also feels that there was divine intervention in bringing Violet into her life.
The only part of the religious tradition of her childhood Violet keeps is the singing of hymns. She teaches the hymns to the birds, and they sing them back to her. Hymns give Violet a sense of security and familiarity as they remind her of her mother. Being in the lab is where she is most comfortable and becomes like her church; the birds are her fellow congregants. Singing reminds her of a time when she felt more connected to her faith and community, and now, it helps her connect with the birds who love her unconditionally. Singing these hymns reconnects her with a sense of safety and continuity. Violet’s hymn-singing manifests her faith, even though it may look different than her family’s belief. Even in her doubt, hymns provide a direct and tangible way for her to connect with her version of spirituality. Through these songs, she can communicate with a higher power, seeking peace and guidance or expressing difficult thoughts.
