52 pages • 1 hour read
Before We Were Yours
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Symbols & Motifs
The Dragonfly Bracelets
When May slips the bracelet off of Avery’s wrist without her knowing, it becomes the catalyst for their intense connection. The bracelet is a symbol of connection, though that connection isn’t explained in full until the end of the book when the photograph of Sisters’ Day is discovered and May informs them all of the dragonflies are symbols of the lost siblings—of Gabion, Camellia, and Shad, the twin of Grandma Judy taken away just after birth. The dragonfly bracelet is in fact more important to Avery than the engagement ring given to her by Elliot. She forgets to wear the engagement ring, a convenient oversight that allows her to hold Trent’s hand at the end and begin their romantic relationship. But the moment she is without the dragonfly bracelet, she notices. It is an heirloom, one that is potent even before she knows the full depth of its meaning.
The River
The river is the home of the Foss children, the real home that they feel compelled to return to in life or in their dreams. When Rill needs to dissociate from her pain and sadness, she returns to the music and sounds of the river in her mind. At the orphanage, she and her siblings always run in the direction of water when allowed outdoors. Water, like the river, is their natural environment. Even in old age, May arranges to meet covertly with her sisters down at the water’s edge. The water is a place of freedom, a place free of pain and of prying eyes. The photographs that Avery discovers all feature members of the Foss family in various poses and eras standing in the water or on the river’s edge where they seem most at peace and their most authentic selves.
The Arcadia
The family shantyboat is home for Rill and her siblings. Although they are an indigent, transient family, the description of their home is presented in loving details. It is a place that Queenie keeps (literally) in “ship shape.” It is small, almost a nest, in which the children share beds, and there is little privacy besides a bedsheet hung up to make a screen behind which one can change their clothes. The close quarters encourage closeness among the Foss family members. Despite their penury, Rill does not note the absence of anything on the Arcadia. It is warm and cozy in a way that the big house of the Seviers is not. When Rill finally runs away and gets back to the Arcadia, she can tell instead from the dilapidated condition of the shantyboat that not just her family home but also her family has been completely and permanently destroyed.
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