48 pages • 1 hour read
The Summer of Broken Rules
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Symbols & Motifs
Wit’s Bruise
When Meredith and her family first park on the ferry to get to Martha’s Vineyard, Meredith accidentally kicks Wit in the face and give him a nasty bruise that persists throughout the events of the novel. Meredith often refers to how the bruise is healing or asks whether it still hurts. For certain wedding events, Wit is required to wear makeup to cover the bruise and make his face appear normal. However, on the day of the wedding, Meredith convinces Wit to leave his bruise uncovered and let everyone see his face as it is.
Wit’s bruise thus becomes a visible symbol of Meredith’s own trauma and healing process. As Meredith rebuilds the bonds between her friends and family members, she regularly observes that the bruise is healing; she also observes that despite such evidence of improvement, the bruise is still tender to the touch. Just like Wit’s bruise, Meredith’s own healing process is rough and slow at the beginning of the week, for she is emotionally bruised and battered from a year and a half of self-isolation in the aftermath of her sister’s death.
As the week progresses, and as Wit’s bruise heals, Meredith also heals. Becoming more in touch with her own feelings about Claire’s death, she also gains a fresh awareness of how best to relate to those around her, and while her grief is still tender to the touch (just like Wit’s bruise is), she is looking and feeling better. This dynamic culminates in her ability to share her grief openly, accepting the comfort and connections to her family members, acknowledging the inner work that she has to do, and not trying to pretend that she has recovered more fully than she has. Just as Wit no longer needs to hide his bruised face at the end of the week, Meredith also no longer needs to hide how she has been impacted by Claire’s death.
Assassin
Every summer, the Fox family plays a game of Assassin, in which family members try to eliminate each other by squirting their designated target with a squirt gun or other water-spraying device, with the ultimate goal of being the last person standing at the end of the summer vacation. This year, the game is condensed to the week of Sarah and Michael’s wedding, and Meredith commits early on to winning the game. However, she is eventually eliminated when she is caught off guard. Although disappointed at first, she is able to move forward and to celebrate Wit’s victory.
The events of the game and the eliminations occur frequently throughout the plot, particularly in relation to moments in which Meredith is either growing or being held back in her journey to heal her relationships with her family. This dynamic makes the game of Assassin a motif for the theme Healing from Trauma and Grief. Whenever Meredith makes progress in her own healing, she is also shown to make progress in the game of Assassin. When her ability to heal is blocked, she is coincidentally held back in the game as well while everyone else around her moves forward, just as others have progressed in their own healing from Claire’s death while she remained stuck in place. By forging a metaphorical connection between Meredith’s inner work and the external progress of the game, K. L. Walther creates an admittedly artificial dynamic that nonetheless provides readers with a method by which to measure Meredith’s character development.
When Meredith is eliminated from the game, she believes it is the end of her spiritual journey as well. However, she is able to move forward and heal from the loss of Claire, and even though she does not win Assassin this year, she recognizes that Claire would be proud not because of Meredith’s win, but by how Meredith played and gave her heart to the game. Similarly, Meredith herself comes to the realization that she does not have to “win” healing for herself, for healing is not a game but a process. She can be imperfect and still progress in life.
Secret Locations
Secret locations play a significant role throughout the narrative. For example, Sarah and Meredith reconnect and strengthen their relationship in the secret attic nook that few know about. Similarly, Meredith shares Paqua Pond, which she and Claire called the Secret Beach, with Wit as a way of connecting with him out of the spotlight. To that end, secret locations become a motif for the theme The Importance of Family, and the importance of forging new connections in general.
Meredith learns a lot about her family and how important her bonds with them are in these secret locations. In the attic, Sarah admits that she often blames herself for Claire’s death, because she took Claire out that night. Prior to this, Meredith held animosity toward Sarah for that same reason, but in the face of Sarah’s guilt, Meredith cannot maintain that animosity. Instead, she forgives Sarah and chooses to offer familial comfort rather than holding a pointless grudge. Anger at Sarah cannot bring Claire back, but by reconnecting with her cousin, Meredith and Sarah can both honor Claire’s memory, as they both loved Claire and know that she would not want them at odds with each other because of her.
Likewise, the Secret Beach serves as a location that facilitates the growing bond between Wit and Meredith. Many secrets come to light in this space—feelings, connections to Claire, and the struggle to move past other secrets. Once again, in this secret location, Meredith is faced with choices. Although Wit is not family, he is a romantic connection, and Wink and Honey accept him as part of the family from the moment he is allowed to attend the family dinner. This dynamic makes him important in the context of family because he helps Meredith recognize the importance of her family connections and overcome repressed emotions in this special place that belonged to her and Claire. By allowing Wit to come and fill this space that was once Claire’s, Meredith starts moving forward and filling the gap of Claire’s absence without replacing Claire herself.
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