The Secret Life of Sunflowers

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s portrayal of mental illness, death by suicide, and sexual assault.

“‘Do you think I shall ever accomplish anything?’ [Johanna] asked her [mother]. ‘Will history remember my name?’

‘What nonsense. The purpose of a woman’s life is to ensure that her husband is happy.’ Her tone tipped, gently lecturing as she picked up the embroidery again. ‘Women are like the canals, steady and calm, the supporters of life. Men are like barges traveling to the seaports, having adventures and collecting their treasures. Wives are to husbands what canals are to barges. Important. Life in Amsterdam wouldn’t be possible without the canals.’”

Johanna longs to make a difference in the world and contribute something meaningful. Her mother, however, adheres to tradition and tries to deter Johanna from violating the gender norms. Johanna will ultimately make a meaningful contribution by ensuring that her brother-in-law’s art is known to the world.

“Are you in love with Eduard, or with the idea of him, the idea of love? Are you holding on to hope, or are you holding on to misery?”

Though Johanna spends a great deal of time pining for Eduard, her friend Anna sees what Johanna cannot: that Eduard is not truly in love with her and her interest in him is merely infatuation. In time, Johanna grows and matures and comes to understand and recognize true love in her relationship with Theo.

“Sunflowers are adaptable, Violet had told me not long ago. You plant them somewhere, and they’ll figure out how to grow. They’ll come up in the rich loam of rivers as easily as in arid, poor dirt. The worse the soil, the bigger they flower. They’re scrappy as hell.”

Sunflowers are a key symbol of perseverance throughout the novel, and here Violet uses them to motivate Emsley to pursue her dreams, no matter how challenging. Sunflowers come to remind Emsley of both her grandmother and her family’s connection to Johanna Bonger, whose tenacity inspires Emsley.