It Happened One Summer

Piper’s growth and transformation through her identification with Westport and her relationship with Brendan drive the narrative of It Happened One Summer. Piper engages in a quest to discover what defines her and how she might identify her essential self. The “fish out of water” trope is a narrative device of long-standing that helps a literary character discover what they truly value.

Piper, in the opening of the novel, values personal attractiveness, fun, and admiration from other people. She hasn’t examined her life until her breakup and her stepfather’s disappointment in her make her question her value and identity. Adrian suggests she is replaceable, a stereotype rather than a person, dismissing the value Piper has put on her attractiveness. Daniel evaluates her for her accomplishments and finds none. Then, her initial blunders in Westport make Piper worry that she is an airhead. As she says to Brendan in a moment of doubt, “I’m really good at going to parties and taking pictures…but what if that’s it? What if that’s just it?” (140). “I don’t know who I am in Westport,” Piper says to Hannah later (232), showing that her crisis of identity is brought about by her change in circumstances.

The resolution of Piper’s identity rests on her decision about where she belongs. She is repeatedly told she doesn’t belong in Westport, first by Brendan and then later, as she sees it, by Mick and all of Westport when they don’t show up for her party. This connection between town and person is emphasized by Henry’s memorial in Westport. In describing the bronze statue that was erected near the harbor to honor Henry, Brendan tells Piper, “He’s part of this place. That means he’s part of us all. We don’t forget” (54).

Piper’s early remark to Brendan that she doesn’t feel she belongs anywhere—even when she’s in a room full of people she knows—indicates how lost she feels. She has a well-known internet presence, but in real life, she fears her impact is fleeting and forgettable—nothing that would make a town erect a statue in her honor or still remember her 20 years after her death, as is the case with Henry.

When she meets Opal and then begins to rediscover and forge a connection with Henry, Piper feels she is connecting to the town and to her identity as a fisherman’s daughter. While she feels little upon first viewing the statue, Piper is struck by seeing pictures of Henry smiling and laughing. This growing connection to him, and integrating her past with her present, takes place through renovating the bar. By repairing Henry’s legacy to her, she feels she is acknowledging her place in her life. But as she is also falling in love with Brendan, Piper’s work on the bar comes to signify a way that she can belong in Westport.

Naming the bar Cross and Daughters shows that Piper hopes to make herself part of the town as well as honor her father. The renovations are a solid accomplishment that she can point to with pride. The bar also gives Piper a career; when Brendan comes to rescue her from LA, Piper tells him they must get home to Westport because “I have a bar to run” (380). Her father, Opal, the bar, and most importantly her love affair with Brendan have given Piper a place to belong. Unlike Adrian’s dismissal, Brendan’s devotion shows Piper that she is unique and irreplaceable; he makes her see that there is no one else like her. Her accomplishments and her new identity as Brendan’s girlfriend, a fisherman’s girlfriend, and a daughter of Westport enable Piper’s reflection at the end that she is “learning to love herself, just as she was” (385).

As an echo and amplification of Piper’s journey, Brendan too undergoes a process of self-discovery and is changed by his relationship with Piper. While he no longer physically misses his wife, Brendan continues to wear his wedding ring out of habit. He reflects that “at some point the grieving had stopped being about his actual marriage, but he had no idea when” (134). When he realizes that his dedication to this memory will interfere with his ability to connect to Piper, Brendan removes the ring, signifying that he is ready to move on.

Brendan also grapples, to a lesser extent, with his identity. Piper’s early retort that he is not being a very good representative of Westport makes him modify his antagonistic treatment of her. Later, when he regrets hurting her by walking out, Brendan resolves that he is ready to make big life changes for Piper. He won’t (or can’t) give up fishing, but he can relocate to LA if that will make her happy. That he is willing to give up Westport for her shows Piper how much she means to him.

For both characters, an essential feature of their identity is their sense of belonging to one another as well as to Westport. In becoming one of Westport’s “own,” like Brendan and Henry, Piper can feel secure in her ability to be a fisherman’s daughter and a fisherman’s girlfriend, confirming that she has the strength and character to love a man who has a dangerous job.