51 pages • 1 hour read
The Cellar
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Symbols & Motifs
Flowers in the Vases
The flowers in the vases are recurring symbols in the novel. On one level, the flowers reveal the dichotomous halves of Clover’s personality. One part of Clover has an affinity for cut flowers, and his appreciation for their perfection and beauty is evident early in the novel. Another part of Clover, however, is capable of rage, threats, and physical assault when the flowers in the vases eventually dry and wither, which, of course, is inevitable for cut flowers. That he names the abducted young women after flowers and keeps those four types of flowers in vases in the cellar is evidence of his ability to think symbolically; in a more literary sense, the cut flowers in the cellar are metaphors for the women whose lives Clover has cut off from the outside world.
The symbolism of the flowers in the vases also extends to foreshadow what will eventually happen to the young women: Each one’s identity, spirit, and hope withers and dies the longer they are in the cellar, just like the flowers’ appearance. Meaningfully, Layal attempts to use one of the vases to overpower Clover, which symbolizes the rejection of a withering identity and resuscitates it through assertive decision-making and courage. She fails to overpower Clover, but her actions spark an additional fight in Summer. In these regards, the flowers in the vases are a visual reminder of the fragility of identity and consequently support the theme of Manipulation of Identity and Resistance Against Erasure of Self.
Newspapers
Newspapers serve as a motif which highlight Resilience in the Face of Dire Circumstances. With no TV, internet, phones, or other outside news source, the young women Clover abducts have no way of connecting with the world beyond the prison walls of the cellar. When he leaves a newspaper behind, it boosts Summer’s spirits to see that Lewis and her family are searching for her, just as she hoped. Over time, Summer’s hopes of rescue or escape fade, but her spirits are buoyed again after when the other young women reveal another newspaper they kept hidden from her. In this one, she sees a picture of Lewis; while it hurts to think of what Lewis may be going through, Summer also learns that the search for her continues, which gives her a reason not to give up.
Newspapers also play a key role in Clover’s undoing, ironically. Despite his need for cleanliness and neatness, he keeps each old newspaper that features Summer’s disappearance and the community and police efforts to find her. Consequently, when Lewis enters his house, the newspapers he finds prove to him Colin Brown’s involvement. These newspapers help Lewis convince Detective Walsh that Brown is suspicious, which soon leads to police intervention and Summer’s rescue.
Knitting Needles
The knitting needles are a key symbol that represents the degree to which Clover controls the Flowers. Early in the timeline of Clover’s criminal activity, he asks the first Violet (Catherine) if she is bored in her new life. Violet admits she is and follows up with a request for yarn and knitting needles so that she can pursue a hobby she enjoys. The narrative infers that this Violet never attempted to use the knitting needles to hurt Clover and try to escape because the needles are still in the cellar, available for use by Summer, Rose (Shannen), Poppy (Becca), and Violet (Jennifer and Layal). Even plastic knitting needles would have served as a valuable weapon against Clover, but while they were in the cellar for several different “families” of Flowers to use, none did. Ironically, Summer looks around the cellar several times for a tool or object to use against Clover and never even considers the knitting needles, though she holds them in her hands, trying to learn the skill from Rose.
The knitting needles, therefore, symbolize a loss of resourcefulness and independence for each Flower in the cellar that stems from fear and weakness; too afraid of Clover’s murderous temper, Summer and the other young women let the opportunity to hurt Clover go by. The symbolic meaning of the knitting needles and their wasted potential support the theme of The Dynamics of Power and Control in Abusive Situations.
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