57 pages • 1 hour read
Tove JanssonThe Summer Book
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1972A 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 Magic Forest
The author uses many different symbols to represent the family at the center of the story, including the magic forest—a patch of dead trees on the outer edge of the island. The magic forest is a representation of Sophia’s family after the death of her mother, and it enhances the theme of Healing From Loss. Sophia, Grandmother, and Father have formed a delicate union as they heal from the loss, just as the magic forest is fragile: “To open a clearing or separate the collapsing trunks might lead to the ruin of the magic forest” (9). This description alludes to the idea that the family cannot take another loss or significant change at the outset of the book, although they have the potential for renewal and regrowth, just like the forest.
Lupatro & Walking Stick
Grandmother has unidentified health conditions which impact her legs and her balance. To counteract her medical issues, she takes Lupatro for dizziness and she uses a walking stick to get around and to help extend her reach. The Lupatro and the walking stick are symbols of Grandmother’s health and of her resilience.
Grandmother is encouraged by Father to rest, as seen in “Dead Calm,” when she is expected to spend the daytrip lying on a mattress. However, Grandmother is an active woman, and she refuses to sit still. With the help of her walking stick and her medicine, Grandmother is able to explore the islands on her own and with Sophia. Grandmother’s reliance on Lupatro is demonstrated in “The Cave,” in which she is particularly dizzy—to the point of vomiting. After she takes her Lupatro, she gives the “sacred” medicine box to Sophia so God can live in it at the back of the cave. The use of the word “sacred” and the allusion to the Christian God symbolize Grandmother’s dependence on the medicine. These symbols reflect The Difficulties of Age-Related Restrictions that Grandmother faces throughout the text.
Storms
Storms appear in several of the vignettes, including “Playing Venice,” “The Cat,” “Midsummer,” “The Neighbor,” and “Sophia’s Storm.” Storms become a motif of emotional turmoil and of the death of Sophia’s mother. In “The Cat,” Sophia throws Fluff out into a storm because she is experiencing grief over Moppy’s rehoming. “Midsummer” and “The Neighbor” connect the ideas of emotional turmoil and community. Eriksson symbolically helps the family heal by arriving and taking them salvaging a shipwreck caused by a storm. “The Neighbor” suggests that community is important through the family worrying about Malander alone on his island during storms.
“Playing Venice” and “Sophia’s Storm” use storms as a symbol of the grief caused by the death of Sophia’s mother. In the first, Sophia is devastated when a storm hits their pretend version of Venice, as it reminds her of her loss. “Sophia’s Storm” symbolizes the guilt that Sophia feels over her mother’s death, as she wonders if she caused the storm. The motif of storms depicts the painful stages that occur in Healing From Loss.
