Flock

Cecelia Horner’s experiences in Triple Falls explore how the past affects life and attitudes in the present. When she arrives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cecelia is still discovering who she is and attempting to define herself outside the context of her family. As a “woman [in]capable of letting go,” Cecelia has a hard time “leaving the past where it belongs, no matter how much [she] want[s] to” (2). For these reasons, Cecelia often finds herself comparing who she was in high school to how she’s behaving and feeling in the present. Her experiences with Sean Roberts and Dominic King particularly influence her outlook. Being around their friend group makes her wish she’d “made a few worthy missteps and been a little bit braver” in her youth (32). Instead, Cecelia defined herself by being careful, obedient, and responsible. In Triple Falls, she begins to wonder if she can outgrow these docile, demure responses and become someone new. She realizes that “here amongst strangers” (32), she has the opportunity to be anyone she wants to be. The novel therefore suggests that new settings and people might help an individual grow beyond her past.