67 pages • 2 hours read
Saving 6
A 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
Music
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical and emotional abuse and substance use.
Music is a motif in the novel that is a key component of Joey and Aoife’s relationship. As they grow their friendship and ultimately start a romantic relationship, music often plays a key part in their time together. As friends, they sit for hours in Aoife’s car, listening to music that they each choose for each other. Then, when Aoife goes over to Joey’s house for the first time, she takes him to his room and plays music to make him more comfortable after their altercation with Marie. Several key moments in their relationship occur on Halloween or New Year’s Eve, with music from the party they are attending as the backdrop.
During one moment in particular, when they sit in Aoife’s car on Christmas Eve, Aoife plays a song that she tells Joey will become their song: “Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls. This song is representative of their feelings for each other, helping to articulate what they are afraid to say as they still struggle with their emotions. With lyrics that read, “You’re the closest to Heaven that I’ll ever be / And I don’t want to go home right now” (Goo Goo Dolls. “Iris.” Dizzy Up the Girl, 1998), the song exemplifies how they feel at that moment, wanting to stay together in the car and avoid their problems. Additionally, the song’s refrain states, “And I don’t want the world to see me / ‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand / When everything’s made to be broken” (Goo Goo Dolls). Both Joey and Aoife struggle with the way that their relationship will be viewed and how it will affect their lives, instead choosing to remain friends to avoid the impact that their relationship will have on their respective worlds. While the two struggle to articulate these feelings to each other, the song Aoife chooses reflects how they both feel in that moment.
Power
Power in the form of emotional attachment is a motif that helps convey Aoife and Joey’s insecurities in their relationships. The first time it is introduced, Aoife explains to her mother that she refuses to get emotionally attached to Paul or any boy. She tells her mother that she has “no intention of giving a boy that kind of power over [her because] from [her] viewpoint, men let you down” (95-96). In this way, the idea of someone having “power” over Aoife scares her, which exemplifies The Impact of Family Dynamics on Personal Development. Because she sees the way that her father controls their mother—he cheats on her, buys her things, and then seeks forgiveness just to cheat on her again—she fears any sort of relationship. In this way, the idea of “power” is representative of emotional attachment. She feels that if she does not become emotionally attached to anyone, they cannot hurt her.
Similarly, Joey feels the same way about opening up to others. He resists the urge to confess his feelings for Aoife or to get close to her, insisting that letting her into his life will give her the power to control him and, ultimately, let him down. Joey thinks how, by kissing Aoife, he “let her control [him, giving] her the power to hurt [him] worse than [his] family ever could” (291). These thoughts parallel Aoife’s feelings, as they both view emotional attachment as a form of vulnerability; as they change in the novel and open up to each other, they give power to one another.
Ultimately, it is through this idea of power that Joey and Aoife learn The Importance of Love and Support. While they both initially view a relationship as a negative thing, as their insecurities lead them to believe that their feelings will be used against them, their love for each other shows them that this power does not have to be a bad thing. As Joey teaches Aoife how to trust and makes her truly happy for the first time, and Aoife guides Joey through his substance abuse and helps him deal with his abusive father, the two learn that emotional vulnerability and connection also give them support and happiness.
Hurling
The sport of hurling is a symbol in the novel that represents Joey’s complex relationship with his father and supports the theme of The Impact of Family Dynamics on Personal Development. On the one hand, hurling serves as an escape for Joey. He is the best player on the team and often uses hurling as an outlet for his anger and frustration. Additionally, he is being scouted to play for the county’s minor team, recognizing “how big an honor it was to be chosen” (75). However, hurling also serves as a connection to his father. When one of the other coaches tries to talk to him about how good of a player Teddy is, he tells Joey that he’s “a lucky young fella to have a father like that” (58). Ironically, Joey thinks the exact opposite, realizing how horrible of a person his father is—despite his hurling skills. Additionally, Joey thinks that hurling is “both [his] saving grace and [his] living nightmare,” as he was “forced to play by [his] father from the age of four, and terrified of having that weight dropped onto Tadhg’s shoulders […] [he] pushed [him]self to keep it up” (18). In other words, Joey’s central motivation for continuing to play hurling is the desire to keep the focus on himself, fearing that his father will turn his attention to Tadhg when Joey is no longer any good at the sport. While hurling is something that Joey should enjoy and be proud of, the legacy of his abusive father corrupts it.
Unlock all 67 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
