The Golden Couple

Bennett’s Cub Scout rope plays a pivotal part in the plot, as it’s revealed that this is how Matthew first suspected Marissa’s infidelity: When Skip came by the Bishops’ house on the night of the affair, he tied a sailor’s knot in the rope, which tipped off Matthew. In this sense, the rope is a tangible symbol of Marissa’s betrayal of Matthew, speaking to the themes of Loyalty Versus Betrayal. The rope also externalizes the fact that the affair occurred in the Bishops’ home. The fact that it’s a toy for Bennett, Matthew and Marissa’s child, shows that it symbolizes the betrayal that divides a marriage in a domestic space.

Ironically, the rope also symbolizes Matthew’s deceptive outer appearances. This becomes clear when Marissa finds the rope in Matthew’s desk drawer—the point at which she starts to realize that Matthew has known about Skip all along. Matthew saw the sailor’s knot and knew that Bennett couldn’t have tied it, but he knew who could’ve: Skip—whose name is short for “Skipper,” since Skip has such a love of sailboats. All in all, the Cub Spot rope is thus a symbol for the “golden couple” as a whole—it’s a twisted, terrible knot woven of Marissa’s betrayal and Matthew’s deceptive nature.