45 pages • 1 hour read
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
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Symbols & Motifs
Oliver’s Nightlight
Oliver’s nightlight is a symbol that represents his father’s love. Though Oliver dislikes so many things about his dad, including his father’s derision of Oliver’s fear of the dark, the fact that his father brought him a nightlight is evidence that he loved his son despite displaying such a harsh demeanor and making such morally questionable choices. Oliver, like Hadley, has trouble understanding his father’s choices. He says that his dad must have thought he “was asleep, or else he’d never be caught dead” plugging the light in (78). Oliver’s dad clearly did not want to be seen capitulating to Oliver’s fear, just as he did not show any outward, obvious signs of affection to his young son. However, his decision to purchase and install the light proves that he did care about alleviating Oliver’s fears.
Hadley interprets the actions of Oliver’s father far more kindly than Oliver does, for she states that Oliver’s father “came around in the end” (230) and that his love for his son eventually won out, overwhelming any concerns he had about Oliver’s courage. She thinks that Oliver and his dad never had enough time to fully understand one another. Oliver tells her that although his room has since been turned into a guest room, the nightlight is still there. The fact that it remains symbolizes the idea that no matter what Oliver’s father said or did, he always loved Oliver in his own way.
Andrew Sullivan’s Books
The books that Andrew Sullivan habitually gives to Hadley symbolize his love for her. Though she initially intends to return the book that he most recently gave her, she changes her mind when she realizes that “[h]e was giving her the most important thing he could, the only way he knew how” (153). As a professor of literature, Andrew finds deep meaning and great wisdom in the texts that he passes on to his daughter, whether they are gold-edged and leather-bound or dollar-bin paperbacks. Hadley recognizes that the books have become “a part of her” (152) as much as any other quality she got from her dad. His books ground him, teach him, and comfort him, and he has tried to pass along that same source of encouragement and wisdom to her, even when she cannot fully appreciate it. Literature therefore represents his love for her, for just like the books, his love is always there, even when she might not realize or appreciate it.
Just as Oliver’s nightlight shows that both he and his father needed a little more time to “come around” to some mutual understanding, Hadley realizes that her father’s books have a similar function. When she is on the London tube, trying to stave off her claustrophobic panic, the Dickens text feels like a “lifeline,” making her feel “grounded” again. Her father’s books therefore help her to understand his love for her. Ultimately, she realizes that those feelings will never change, no matter what other changes take place.
Hadley’s Sparrows
When Hadley sees Oliver at his father’s funeral, his confusion and grief remind her of the sparrows who used to come to the birdbath in her backyard at home. These sparrows, like Oliver and his dad, always seemed to be fighting, and though they “spent the entire time [at the birdbath] squabbling, they always arrived together, and they always left together” (171). One would hop around the outside while the other bathed, and then they would switch roles, occasionally lurching toward one another with flapping wings and loud squawks. This pattern is similar to the way that Oliver and his father remained at odds with one another when Oliver was younger; even so, Oliver always knew that his father was there. Their relationship was contentious at times, but there was comfort to be had in that relationship, too, such as when Oliver’s dad brought him the nightlight.
One day, Hadley recalls, only one of the sparrows came, hopping around the edge of the water with a “bewilderment” that pained her, and Oliver’s “reckless confusion” at his father’s funeral pains her in the same way. Oliver’s anger, love, and confusion now have nowhere to go, and he does not know how to deal with his dad’s absence. Thus, the sparrows symbolize Oliver and his dad as well as the confusion that Oliver feels about losing someone about whom he felt so ambivalent.
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By Jennifer E. Smith
