64 pages • 2 hours read
Jeannette WallsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The novel explores the intricate dysfunctionalities within the Kincaid family, particularly around marriage, betrayal, and parent-child relationships. For Sallie, the result of experiencing a family that relies on secrets and emotional suppression is a deep-seated fear of commitment. This becomes a central conflict for her as she reaches adulthood and begins contemplating her own marriage.
Sallie sees marriage as “nothing but trouble” (279), an outlook influenced by the troubled marriages she has seen throughout her life. The Duke fought constantly with Sallie’s mother, Annie, leaving Sallie with vivid memories of loud conflicts and objects being thrown in anger. The Duke ultimately killed Annie, traumatizing Sallie and leading her to grow up without a mother. The Duke’s succession of wives—and their deaths—ingrains a belief in Sallie that marriage is temporary and ends tragically. Furthermore, the failed marriage between Kat and Seymour, wherein Seymour left Kat after discovering his sexuality, adds to Sallie’s skepticism of marriage as a permanent, loving bond. Finally, her negative perception of marriage is reinforced by Phillip’s abandonment of Mary, who was devoted to her husband and led their temperance campaign. Sallie’s experience with her former fiancé, Rawley, only deepened her disillusionment with marriage and with men’s ability to be faithful. His betrayal, in the form of impregnating Nell, Sallie’s half-sister, shattered her trust. However, when Tom shares his positive experience of marriage with Amy, expressing the joy of “having someone by [his] side” (165), Sallie finds herself drawn to this new perspective of having a partner to share her life with.
Due to her fragmented family dynamics, Sallie avoids intimacy as a means of self-preservation. Throughout the novel, she repeatedly declares her intention to remain unmarried. Therefore, when Tom proposes to her, she turns him down. And when Rawley proposes, she finds herself grappling with a sense of entrapment and suffocation. Sallie’s response to Rawley’s marriage proposal and her subsequent contemplation reveal the deep emotional scars she carries as a result of her traumatic upbringing within a dysfunctional family. Her feeling of being “trapped” suggests that she associates commitment and marriage with confinement. Her reflection on the fear of not being able to provide Rawley with a son is also linked to her family history: It was her mother’s inability to provide the Duke with a son that led to her murder. Sallie’s worry about another woman coming along to fulfill this expectation underscores her fear of being replaced, which she saw happen to her mother and the Duke’s subsequent wives. In essence, Sallie’s response to Rawley’s proposal provides insight into the lasting impact of a dysfunctional family on an individual’s ability to trust, commit, and open themselves up to the vulnerabilities of intimate relationships.
The novel explores the impact of loneliness and loss through the characters’ reactions to the deaths of people around them. As the first in the narrative, Jane’s death serves as a catalyst for these thematic inquiries. Sallie recognizes Eddie’s profound isolation as she hears his “sad, beautiful piano music” (43) after his mother’s death. Sallie empathizes with him, as she herself has experienced the pain of losing her mother. Eddie’s experience of loneliness is particularly poignant and tragic. Feeling abandoned by those he loves, he succumbs to his overwhelming loneliness, tragically ending his life as a result.
The Duke’s response to loss and loneliness is to “stay busy” (47), as he “hate[s] being alone” (46). His avoidant approach to grief becomes evident after Jane’s death when he immerses himself in reading newspapers and maintaining a perpetual state of busyness. His swift remarriage to Kat further illustrates his aversion to solitude and inability to grieve. For Kat, too, the fear of loneliness is the driving force in her decision to remarry quickly after the Duke’s death. She justifies her decision by stating that she was “alone and grieving in [the] big empty house” (110).
The novel primarily examines the theme of loss and loneliness through the lens of its central character, Sallie. Sallie experiences abandonment even before her expulsion from the Big House: She is sent to a separate room by Jane because her nightmares disturb Eddie and becomes a metaphorical exile within her own home. This early abandonment makes her feel “cast aside” (91). Her experience with isolation continues with her father’s decision to send her away from the Big House when she is eight. This separation impacts Sallie’s self-image, leading her to develop insecurities and a fear of commitment. The image of her standing “alone, staring at the Big House” (21) is a poignant symbol of her estrangement from the place that once defined her sense of belonging. When she returns as an adult, she struggles to find her place in the Big House, as indicated by her discomfort around unfamiliar faces and her feeling of being scrutinized. After the tragic loss of Eddie, Sallie feels overwhelmed and sleepless. She finds herself adrift, grappling with loss and a deep sense of isolation. The weight of her new role as the leader of the Kincaid family and the revelation that Cecil and Tom Dunbar cannot support her, make her feel unmoored and confused. Her feelings of loneliness and loss persist throughout the novel, especially when Rawley betrays her. In the aftermath, she feels “so alone, so damned alone” (282). However, she maintains that she would rather be alone than “bound or beholden to someone” (282). This sentiment underscores her resilience and self-sufficiency, showcasing her determination to maintain her independence even in the face of challenging circumstances.
Sallie’s journey of rediscovering her memories and reevaluating her past is the main facet of her coming-of-age narrative. When Sallie returns to her childhood home following Jane’s death, she experiences “a peculiar feeling to finally see something that has been lodged in [her] head for so long” (21). She initially feared that the Big House might not be as grand as she remembers it, which reflects the larger-than-life status the Duke and the Big House hold for her. Instead, she sees the place as a combination of being alien and familiar. Sallie’s life with Aunt Faye has given her distance, time, and perspective, which inform her impressions. Her “memories come flooding back” (20), highlighting the connection between the Big House and the past it contains. However, her present self, shaped by her experiences outside the Big House, now sees the space through a more critical lens. The house’s opulence, which she once took for granted, now represents privilege and power, forces she was unaware of as a child.
Throughout the narrative, Sallie frequently engages in moments of nostalgia, reflecting on her past experiences and how they have shaped her present self. In one such instance at the Emporium, she fondly reminisces about her Saturday mornings spent there with the Duke. Despite being away for nine years, her love for the Emporium, her “favorite place on earth” (36), remains unchanged, underscoring its enduring significance in her life. Sallie’s recollections often center around the Duke, who played a pivotal role in her upbringing. His guidance has not only left lasting imprints on her memory but also shaped her character. Her memories of the Duke are multifaceted. She reflects on her childhood adoration for him and the joy she felt when gaining his approval. As the narrative unfolds and Sallie delves deeper into the family’s hidden secrets and darker past, her memories of the Duke become more complex and subject to revaluation.
Sallie’s few memories her mother, Annie, are depicted as elusive and fleeting, “brightly colored birds” (32) that vanish when she tries to focus on them. Despite their brevity, these memories play a pivotal role in Sallie’s emotional journey. It is noteworthy that it is her mother’s words of encouragement—not the Duke’s—that rekindle hope and love within Sallie. This demonstrates the enduring power of memory to shape one’s emotional landscape and influence their actions and decisions.
As the novel reaches its conclusion, Sallie confronts the complex history of the Big House, recognizing “both good and bad” (300) aspects. Its destruction presents Sallie with a choice: live in the past or create a new future. Sallie’s decision to leave the past behind and move forward is a profound moment of personal growth. She acknowledges that she has the agency to choose which memories to “hold on to” (298) and which to let go. It also signifies her determination to build a brighter and more functional version of the Kincaid family.
By Jeannette Walls