53 pages • 1-hour read
The Good Daughter
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Symbols & Motifs
Boxes and the “HP”
Boxes are an important symbol in the novel, linked with the past, shame, repression, and an inability to move forward. Boxes first find mention in the plot in the form of thrift boxes in the HP, the old farmhouse in which the Quinns are living. The thrift boxes are filled with donations which Gamma has bought for pennies, and contain things that are meant to replace the possessions the Quinns lost in the fire. However, even though the Quinns have been in the HP for two days, Rusty and Gamma have hardly opened any boxes. In Sam’s memory, the boxes are forever associated with the squalor of the HP itself, filled with its previous inhabitant’s broken, rusted items. The presence of the boxes foreshadows the clutter of trauma that will come to dominate the lives of the Quinns.
When Sam reluctantly visits the HP decades later, she finds some of the boxes still unpacked among Rusty’s things. The boxes and the HP symbolize inertia. Rusty holds onto the boxes because he has not processed Gamma’s death, just as he has remained living in the HP, signaling his emotional stasis.
The box symbolism becomes central to the novel when Rusty asks young Charlie to visualize a thrift box, place her memory of sexual assault in the box, tape it shut, and place the box on a high shelf. Thus, the box becomes a metaphor for repressed memories and silenced pain. Forced to box up her trauma as if she has done something shameful, Charlie takes on an additional emotional burden. However, grown-up Charlie notes that no matter how tight a box is sealed, memory will always leak out. This shows trauma cannot be contained by repression. It must be unboxed to be processed.
Running
Gamma, Charlie, and Sam are avid runners and running is a key motif and symbol in the text. Although her physical injuries mean Sam cannot run anymore, she often thinks in running terms and metaphors, such as when she compares a tense moment in court to being “locked into the starting block, staring down at the open track” (312). The metaphor of running helps Sam focus and bring herself back into her body. Running also symbolizes the fight-or-flight reaction in a stressful situation. On the night of Gamma’s murder, Sam wanted Charlie to run in order to escape trauma and possible death. Charlie now blames herself for “not running faster” (394). However, the novel suggests that Sam and Charlie cannot escape the past and their problems by “running away” from them; instead, they have to run into hope and toward each other.
The relay race and the blind pass are recurrent metaphors in the sisters’ relationship. In the novel’s opening section, Sam and Charlie are unable to make the “blind pass,” the trusting pass of the baton from one teammate to another without either looking back. Both blame the other for their inability to achieve the pass. This failure is something they fight over as adults, showing that they feel it to be representative of their broken relationship. However, Sam and Charlie learn to trust each other and share each other’s secrets, their familiar impasse broken. Just as in the relay race, they are able to complement and support each other when needed, working as a team.
Gamma’s Photo
Gamma’s photo is both an important motif and a symbol in the novel, tied into the metaphor of hope and the theme of The Complex Dynamics in Families. Rusty tells Sam about the photo in the scene in which he dies. It is a photo that even Charlie has never seen. The fact that Rusty chooses to give the photo to Sam and not Charlie, whom Sam believes is Rusty’s favorite, makes Sam feel light and happy. Thus, the photo—and Rusty and Sam’s shared love for Gamma—becomes a bridge to mend their relationship but is in fact another example of how Rusty plays favorites, this time excluding Charlie. Rusty claims the “private photo” captures the moment he and Gamma fell in love. Although Sam loves the story behind the photo, she suspects it may not be true and cannot find the photo. Charlie suggests that Rusty could have made up the photo and the story since he loved to fabricate things. Thus, the novel dangles the photo as a possible loose end.
In the ending pages of the novel, Sam receives an image file in an e-mail from Charlie; now both the daughters have seen the photo and share it. The existence of the photo shows that Sam’s trust in Rusty was not misplaced, while Charlie’s sharing the image suggests her relationship with Sam has evolved for the better. The narrative describes the photo in detail, with Gamma standing in a field, looking happy and beautiful. Sam notes the picture does capture a woman falling in love, as Rusty had said. However, it also captures Gamma’s quest for adventure and hope, “for a full, useful life” (500). The narrative uses the phrase “stalking joy” to describe Gamma’s attitude. The phrase is a motif used by Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), a Southern author. It is an example of the novel’s frequent literary allusions, in this case drawing on connotations of Christian forgiveness and fostering a loving relationship with others.
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