Where Butterflies Wander

“I saw it before the car stopped, a flutter of blue beside the barn, and my heart leaped. When Mom said we were spending the summer in New Hampshire, I was worried Bee wouldn’t know where we’d gone. But there she was, waiting.”

Penelope perceives that a butterfly is her deceased twin sister, Bee, believing Bee to be watching and guiding her even in death. Penelope’s attachment to Bee was stronger than anyone’s, and for her, Death and the Grieving Process manifests in a unique form, driving the pathos of her character. Her inner monologue here shows the reader that Penelope is anxious about leaving the place where Bee lived and died but has not shared this with her family. This also highlights her isolation now that her twin sister is dead. The fact that Penelope sees the butterfly the moment the family arrives at the house foreshadows how much Bee’s influence will continue to affect the family’s lives and that they cannot outrun her death or their grief. This significance is emphasized by the reference to butterflies in the novel’s title.

“It’s not like trading in a car. You can’t simply replace your old life with a new one and think that’s going to fix things. It seems to me, wherever we go, the dents and scratches are going to go with us and that it’s going to take more than a new house in a new town in order to set things right.”

In this extended metaphor, Hannah explains her thoughts on Marie’s idea of moving to the countryside to escape the memory of Bee’s death. Hannah, although young, has wisdom that her mother does not yet possess. She realizes that it is not possible to escape the grieving process and that grief must instead be experienced and felt. This passage also shows how Hannah, as older than Penelope, is more confident in expressing her thoughts and feelings when she disagrees with her parents.

“Forward, forward, forward…it takes enormous effort, each breath, each step. But I will do it, an inch or a millimeter at a time. For Pen and Hannah and Brendon and Leo—for those of us who remain.”

Marie feels exhausted from her grief and from trying to stay strong for her family, who are all also grieving. Her philosophy is to continue pressing forward at all costs, and she forgets to occasionally stop and enjoy the present or feel grateful for the past. This passage creates sympathy for Marie and helps to contextualize her challenging behavior later in the novel.

“No one loved is ever truly gone. And if we keep them in our heart, we are able to keep them with us.”

This passage encapsulates the overall message of the novel. Told by Davina to Penelope, it further establishes Davina as someone who has gained wisdom through loss and has learned about consolation.

“Now there’s only Pen, still marvelous but only half as wondrous without there being two such creatures spinning like tops around each other.”

Since Bee died, the rest of the family has fallen into a trap of seeing Penelope as the remaining half of a pair and therefore incomplete. The simile of spinning tops is used to juxtapose the sense of liveliness and connection of the two twins with the loneliness of Penelope. This passage also creates dramatic irony by hinting that Penelope is a physical reminder of her dead sister.

“Different possibilities run through my head, the thoughts fleeting as glances through the window of a passing train—endless could-haves and would-haves, fanciful at first but which leave me hollow, gutted by the possibilities of the road untraveled and with intense longing for my daughter and the life we might have shared.”

Davina doesn’t like thinking of what could have been because the losses she experienced after the explosion changed the entire course of her life. Not only did Davina lose part of her own face, but she also lost her daughter and the life she knew. The simile of the train contrasts with the “road untraveled,” emphasizing that Davina feels trapped and alone. The flashing of images also bears associations with the experiences of PTSD.

“While I expected the woman’s scars, I was not prepared for her beauty.”

Leo is the first and only person to refer to Davina as beautiful despite her injuries. While everyone else is either startled or confused by her appearance, Leo already expects it and sees past it to the person underneath. His reaction confirms the narrative’s underlying suggestion that Davina is beautiful, unnoticed by the characters who have previously met her.

“His Adam’s apple bobs, and his jaw tightens. It makes me think of the letters to Juliet. It’s a huge thing to be understood.”

Body language is a powerful communicator, and Hannah notices enough in her father’s body language that he doesn’t need to say anything at all. When Hannah writes letters from Juliet, she provides people with a sense of support, understanding, and empathy. Hannah lives by these values in general, and this is most reflected in her devotion to her loved ones.

“I glance again at the empty table, hope rising, the witch still not here.”

Brendon is the only one within whose narrative Davina is referred to as “the witch.” Brendon uses this language to stigmatize and villainize Davina. He fails to empathize with her or understand her humanity, which results in a series of unfortunate choices.

“Lucky? Unlucky? Hard to say. At the time, I thought the latter. It took years before I could appreciate the blessings of each new day.”

Davina reflects on the nature of fate and chance, thinking back to the day the truck exploded and she became the only survivor of the attack. Because Davina was so badly injured and also lost her daughter in the process, she felt robbed and cheated out of the life she wanted. The experience of learning to be grateful again was part of the grieving process that Davina went through.

“As it dissolves beneath my tongue, I close my eyes and let the rising sun warm me. The bitter taste is awful and comforting, the worst thing I’ve ever tasted and the most wonderful for the promise it offers of another headache-free day.”

Hannah’s migraines were at the center of her life for so long that she was almost unable to do anything else. With the tincture from Davina and a daily swim, Hannah’s migraines disappear, and she regains her sense of peace and relaxation. She comments on the contradictory nature of the medicine’s horrible taste and its ability to make her feel so much better. Hannah’s migraines, medicine, and recovery are an extended metaphor for the novel’s treatment of emotional loss and healing.

“No! You know who this is hard on? Davina. I don’t want to move to stupid Farmington! And I don’t want you to kick Davina out of her home! It’s not right. And you know it!”

Penelope usually doesn’t have a chance to speak her mind, as she is the youngest in the family. Still, Penelope manages to find the courage to speak up about Davina and her home because Davina has come to mean something to Penelope. Penelope also points out the immoral decision on her mother’s parent to force Davina to leave her home.

“My heart screams as I march back toward the house. She’s cunning; I’ll give her that. She has the whole world fooled. But this is not only me she’s hurting; it’s my family. And she should know better than anyone not to mess with a mama bear who is looking out for her cubs.”

This passage shows that Marie is hasty and impulsive, as well as highly emotional and stubborn. It creates dramatic irony by contrasting Marie’s opinion of Davina with what the novel has encouraged the reader to feel. She sees Davina as a problem and as a deceitful person who is trying to win sympathy from the public. Marie’s reaction is extreme, and her tendency to take drastic actions on short notice (like moving after Bee’s death) harms the entire family. It especially harms Brendon, who takes after Marie’s aggressive attitude.

“The sun’s heat rises as I march closer, my resolve hardening and hope growing. The past is behind me, so instead, I will focus on what is to come and the single thing I can do to fix it.”

The heat of the sun foreshadows the fire that Brendon is about to set and the fire that burns within him as he feels like his family is being betrayed. Brendon, like his mother, is extremely defensive and often acts impulsively. This passage is a foreboding cliffhanger that leads to the story’s tragic climax.

“While all this started with us moving here, I feel like we were only a flutter of wings that somehow managed to alter the entire ecosystem—Edward Lorenz’s butterfly effect.”

Butterflies are a multilayered symbol in the novel, and one use of this symbol relates to the idea of the butterfly effect and small actions having magnificent impacts through a chain of causal events. When the family moved into the house, it was only a matter of minutes before they began interacting with the other people in the area and changing the environment they came to. When people move to a new place, their impact on that community can be immeasurable.

“My brother hasn’t been around much lately. I was with him during the fire, but since then, he’s gone back to avoiding me. I think it’s because of the thing he said on Father’s Day. I want to tell him it’s okay. I know he didn’t mean it. He was just mad about the eggs, and I know that seeing me reminds him of Bee and that’s hard for him.”

In this instance of dramatic irony, Penelope reasons out the possible cause of Brendon’s self-isolation. She is unaware that he started the fire and is terrified and feeling guilty. Because Brendon said nasty things to Penelope a few days before, Penelope assumes that’s the reason he doesn’t want to talk to her.

“Pen takes the little frog as if Davina has handed her the moon.”

In this simile, Hannah observes the way that Penelope treasures this small but significant gift from Davina. Throughout their stay in the New Hampshire wilderness, both Penelope and Hannah have learned the power of small acts of kindness, and this gesture signifies Davina’s love for the children.

“It’s fine. You made your choice.”

Marie tends to see the world in black and white and views the members of her family as “choosing sides” between her and Davina. She doesn’t see how it could be possible for Hannah to love and care for both her mother and Davina and sees any sort of relationship that Hannah has with Davina as a form of betrayal.

“I shake my head again, unable to believe it, anger hot in my chest as I think about fire and all it has taken from me—my marriage, my daughter, my looks, my career…And now—my home, my things, the life I’d built.”

Fire is an important motif in the story and is something that has followed Davina through her life. Fire is at the heart of almost every loss she has experienced in her life, and having her cabin burn down reignites memories of the truck explosion and difficult recovery. For Davina, much of her life has been defined by death and the grieving process, in all its forms.

“The way I see it, tonight’s a night of reckoning. A reminder of what’s important, and perhaps a bit of a kick in the butt to take an inventory and settle some scores.”

Davina is a forgiving person and someone who is willing to give Brendon another chance even after he destroyed her cabin and most of her belongings. Davina sees something in Brendon that perhaps he does not yet see in himself but that, with Davina’s help, he is able to access and let free. The conversation inspires Brendon to take stock of his actions and find ways to better the lives of those around him. Davina’s colloquial use of the phrase “kick in the butt” removes any sense of threat from her words.

“I liked seeing the progress I was making and knowing it was number four: I saved Banjo. I found the pinkie. I got us to the docks…I finished painting the house.”

Brendon starts counting all his good deeds as he completes them in an effort to prove to himself that he can change and that he can be a positive influence on people’s lives. Brendon has spent weeks wrapped up in his own thoughts and guilt-ridden over Bee’s death and finally starts to see a sense of purpose again. This passage signifies a turning point in Brendon’s character arc and in the novel’s trajectory toward its hopeful ending.

“I lost sight of that simple, eternal truth—deluded myself into believing a house would bring relief, when, if there’s one thing I should know, it’s that nothing not of flesh and bone ever satisfies the soul but briefly and superficially.”

After so much drama, suffering, and heartache, Marie finally understands The Problem of Superficiality and how focusing on material pursuits has negatively affected her relationships with the people in her family. Marie was so set on buying a new house, thinking that the family could start fresh, that she forgot to take care of them in the present.

“Heartbreak. The word makes sense, like my heart is being torn in two, the blood in my veins not flowing right so I can’t think and barely have energy to move.”

After Rock breaks up with Hannah, she experiences her first heartache and finally understands the letters to Juliet more deeply. Because Hannah is a teenager, her experience of heartbreak feels intense and dramatic, and she does not foresee the possibility of reuniting with Rock.