48 pages • 1 hour read
Elsie SilverHeartless
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Wishing Well Ranch
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of cursing.
Wishing Well Ranch is symbolic of home and belonging. The ranch is owned by the Eaton family and is primarily run by Cade Eaton. The ranch also includes the main house where Harvey Eaton lives, as well as Summer Hamilton and Rhett Eaton’s home and Cade’s home, where he lives with his son Luke. The property therefore houses the entire extended family and lets them share the same general space.
Furthermore, Cade’s red house grants Willa a new sense of acceptance and belonging. When Summer first takes Willa to meet Cade, they “drive across the farm and pull up in front of the most picturesque red house with white trim” (17). Moved by the picturesque setting, Willa contrasts the Eatons’ lives with her own past, as she has had a peripatetic, unplanned lifestyle up until this point. She has no plans to settle down at the novel’s start, but her response to the ranch and Cade’s house foreshadows the fact that life on the ranch will change her outlook drastically.
In the recent past, Willa used to tease Summer “about living in the middle of ‘buttfuck nowhere’” (13), but the more time she spends at Wishing Well Ranch, the more she realizes that “the view out near Chestnut Springs is breathtaking” (13). She can see the Rocky Mountains from Cade’s house and is amazed at the majesty of the natural setting. She observes that the “[p]rairie land [is] so flat it almost seems impossible” and that the “[d]ark, craggy mountains” rise “like a tidal wave, heading right for you” (13). This land has been Cade’s home for as long as he can remember, and it starts to feel like home to Willa, too. Its geographical location and environmental features open her heart and spirit to new possibilities, and the relationships that she builds there transform her perspective on herself and her future.
Cooking
A number of scenes feature descriptions of the characters cooking together, and this recurring image becomes symbolic of community and comfort. As soon as Willa starts working as Luke’s nanny, she starts to cook with and for Luke and Cade. These interludes foster a serene sense of platonic intimacy, and they all grow more comfortable in each other’s presence. In Chapter 6, for example, Willa and Luke make chocolate chip pancakes together. While Luke “pats his belly with sticky chocolate fingers,” he exclaims that Willa “might be better at cooking than [his] dad” (51). Cooking has been a pastime that Cade has always used to bond with his son. For this reason, he is initially hesitant when Willa offers to help prepare the family meals. When he does accept her offer, Cade is essentially inviting Willa to be a part of his family and community. Over time, the tenor of the characters’ time in the kitchen together changes, marking the evolution of Willa, Cade, and Luke’s family dynamic. Cooking is ultimately a way for them to enjoy an organic opportunity to communicate freely with one another.
The Sidewalk
The sidewalk that Cade and Luke work on in front of the house is symbolic of love. They complete the project while Willa is back in the city, giving Cade time to think. When she returns to “[t]he little red house,” she discovers “a freshly poured sidewalk out front” (379). Luke then excitedly shows her the finished project, desperate to communicate his and Cade’s love for her. As Willa approaches, she “can smell that chalky scent permeating the surrounding air” (381). The “wet concrete” is symbolic of the newness of Willa and Cade’s relationship. However, “it’s what’s decorating the walkway” that conveys the depth and significance of their connection (381), as Cade and Luke have pressed stones into the cement. The stones are “laid out in the shapes of hearts, running the full length of the walkway” (381). The hearts represent Willa and Cade’s romance and their mutual love for Luke. Because the hearts stretch all the way down the walk, they represent the promise of a long and stable future for the characters as a family unit. Furthermore, by writing everyone’s initials in the concrete and by rendering Willa’s as “W.E.” (for Willa Eaton), Cade and Luke have written all their “initials inside the hearts” (381). Cade shows that he has firm plans to propose to her and is confident that she will accept. Thus, the sidewalk becomes a physical manifestation of the characters’ mutual affection and devotion.
