57 pages • 1 hour read
Rachel BeanlandFlorence Adler Swims Forever
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A 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
Florence’s Journal
Content Warning: This section discusses antisemitism, loss of children, and Nazi Germany.
Florence’s swimming journal is a symbol of hope that eventually lends its name to Stuart, Anna, and Gussie’s secret society. Initially, the name of the journal is Florence Adler Swims the English Channel. It represents Florence’s dedication, determination, and organization to reach her goal of swimming the English Channel. Over time, the ink runs from use and moisture, and all that is legible is Florence Adler Swims. The journal is introduced in this form when Joseph holds it after Florence’s death, looking for the contact information for Florence’s coach.
The shift in the title signals the shifting function of the journal within the narrative. Initially a journal for Florence, it becomes a journal that reveals and builds relationships. For example, Joseph and Anna bond over the journal as Joseph reveals that Anna reminds him of her mother. It also facilitates Joseph’s connection to Stuart, who Anna tells Joseph will probably know the information the journal lacks.
In its final iteration, Florence’s journal lives on in the name of the secret society that Stuart and Anna induct Gussie into to ensure that she keeps her aunt’s death a secret. The journal’s name here becomes a conduit for future bonds—specifically, the connection between Anna, Stuart, and Gussie, which proves to be Florence’s legacy. What begins as a tool for creating a personal legacy—the Channel swim—therefore cements Florence’s legacy in what the novel suggests is a much more meaningful way.
Water and Swimming
Water functions as a symbol of possibility and love. The ocean is of course most associated with Florence, who loves swimming and who drowns. However, the boardwalk by the ocean is also where Isaac and Fannie, as well as Stuart and Anna, fall in love. Joseph and Stuart bond by the ocean as they watch Florence’s would-be ship, the Lafayette. It is also where Gussie proposes to Stuart.
Despite Florence’s death, the ocean primarily serves as a conduit for love and memory rather than as a trauma. Isaac and Esther are the only exceptions to this rule. Overwhelmed by Florence’s loss, Esther rejects the ocean, looking forward to moving back to the family house inland. Isaac, by contrast, is symbolically rejected by the ocean. When he goes out on a boat with Stuart to try to sell him on his Florida deal, he almost drowns. This rejection foreshadows his rejection of and rejection by the family: Unlike the other characters, he can neither embrace family and hope nor find happiness in memory.
Of course, Isaac’s inability to swim is also a function of his poverty and upbringing. Symbolically, however, it speaks to Isaac’s lack of discipline and sense of powerlessness. For the novel’s female characters in particular, swimming is a symbol of independence; the novel establishes early on that it is a relatively uncommon skill for women in the Adlers’ community to have, and Anna’s swimming lessons coincide with her developing agency. Anna’s agency, however, is very different from Isaac’s. For her, independence is not simply about making her own choices but rather about making mature and rational choices. Isaac lacks this kind of agency: His goals and desires control him rather than the other way around.
Letters
As a motif, letters are a conduit for open communication, expressing what characters are often afraid to express face-to-face and therefore developing the theme of The Costs and Benefits of Secrecy. In revealing the hidden lives of characters, letters also connect the Adlers’ immediate tragedy to the slowly escalating tragedy that Anna’s parents face in Nazi Germany. Each letter—the affidavit that Joseph writes for Anna’s parents, Stuart’s letters to Anna, Fannie’s letter to Florence—reveals some truth. The one exception is the forged letter that Isaac gives to Joseph to pass on to Fannie. Yet even here the letter symbolically reveals the truth of Isaac’s (and Florence’s) care for Fannie. In a novel in which the characters leave much unspoken, letters are revelatory and bolster relationships.
