Symbols & Motifs
Music
Content Warning: The source material and this guide reference mental health concerns, body image struggles and addiction to alcohol.
Daverley uses the motif of music to represent Rosie’s true, authentic self. Throughout the novel, Rosie’s passion for music functions as an expressive outlet, an emotional release, and a way to process complex feelings that she struggles to articulate, underscoring the novel’s thematic interest in The Significance of Unspoken Words and Repressed Emotions. She describes it to Will, “I play because I have to […] Because I don’t feel okay if I don’t” (98). Composing, playing, and singing are a part of Rosie’s identity, yet after Josh’s death, she casts aside her passion, choosing not to attend music school. In college, music represents the parts of Rosie’s life she keeps hidden as she avoids taking music classes, and none of her friends know of her talent. When Rosie’s mental health declines, music represents a path to reconnect with her mind and body—a means of coping with the intensity of her internal world and relationships. Rosie uses music as a tool for emotional expression when she can’t voice her feelings directly. Composing songs and poetry allow her access to her inner life, reflecting her emotional state and providing a way to release pent-up sadness, longing, and love. When she feels alone or lost, music serves as a refuge, a private space where she can freely experience and process her emotions. During moments in the narrative when she finds herself profoundly struggling, music becomes a tool for survival as she turns to literally writing songs on her body to release her emotional pain.
Later in life, music becomes Rosie’s vocation and evolves into a lifestyle. When she quits her corporate job to teach music, she feels fulfilled for the first time in adulthood and recaptures the magic of music in her life— “that deep, silent pull she has felt ever since she was a child and her father sat her down at their piano and showed her that she could make sounds with her own hands, magic that matched the music she’d heard elsewhere […]” (373). Daverley frames Simon failure to encourage Rosie’s love of music, as a signal of a lack of connection in their relationship, whereas Will signals his commitment to supporting Rosie’s passion by purchasing her a piano. Rosie’s move to Vienna, known for its rich musical history, allows her to immerse herself in her music. Moving to Vienna symbolizes Rosie’s desire to follow her passions, something she holds herself back from embracing earlier in her life. It represents a step toward embracing the aspects of herself that were overshadowed by her sense of duty to her mother, Josh’s memory, and her marriage to Simon.
Night
The motif of night in Daverley’s novel serves as a symbol for Will and Rosie’s romantic connection. As the novel’s title reflects, the two romantic leads have their deepest, most meaningful conversations at night. Daverley suggests that the quiet and stillness of night creates an intimate environment where Rosie and Will feel more comfortable revealing their true feelings, fears, and desires. The vast chasm of night symbolizes the emotional openness and vulnerability that come with obscurity. During their first conversation, Rosie and Will “spend the night talking, their knees almost touching. Saying very little, though [Will] has never known himself to be so attentive, so desperate for another sentence, so surprised by the words she chooses” (6). Under the cover of darkness, when societal expectations and daily distractions fade away, Rosie and Will find freedom, allowing them to connect on a raw, unfiltered level. The night becomes a metaphor for their emotional bond, where they can communicate without pretense. Rosie and Will find it easier to express themselves in the late hours when the darkness mirrors the hidden parts of themselves. The concealment offered by the night represents the things left unsaid during the day, the unresolved feelings, regrets, and unspoken truths that hover over their relationship. Their late-night conversations provide moments in which these repressed emotions come to the surface, revealing the complexity of their connection.
While being together at night fosters connection, when Will or Rosie is alone, night becomes a place of isolation and emotional distance. Left often alone with their thoughts, anxieties, and unspoken emotions, they struggle privately, evidenced by Rosie’s increase in OCD at night and Will’s use of alcohol and sex for comfort—both of which point to the novel’s exploration of The Individualized Nature of Mental Health Concerns. The text describes Rosie’s struggle as “irrational, necessary, tiring habits that were compulsory, and private, done only at night or when she was alone, before bed” (67). For both Rosie and Will, being alone at night becomes an internal battle with mental health. Partners are typically together at night, yet, in their inability to solidify their relationship, night symbolizes their separation, uncertainty, and ambiguity in their connection. Much like the darkness of night, the path forward remains unclear, and they are left pondering their unresolved feelings and questions about their futures. When they talk at night, Rosie and Will can confront their true selves, experience both the comfort and pain of their relationship and work through the unresolved tension that defines their bond.
Food
Rosie experiences feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem from the pressures of her mother and society, which manifest in her relationship with food and exercise. Her eating habits reflect her internalized sense of inadequacy as she battles feelings of guilt and shame. Her fixation on food and her body is indicative of deeper emotional wounds from the trauma in her life. Daverley’s portrayal of Rosie’s relationship with food interrogates the danger of diet culture and society’s unrealistic body image standards, particularly for women. Restrictive eating negatively affects Rosie’s mental health as her rules for food and compulsion to exercise rob her of joy and fulfillment. Rosie feels as sense of freedom when she allows herself to eat what she wants—an experience she describes as exhilarating. Yet, at times, like the holidays, she punishes herself for what she perceives as overindulgence and internalizes comments from her mother about the size of her body, highlighting the novel’s thematic engagement with The Challenges of Complex Family Dynamics and Relationships. This connection Daverley draws between Rosie’s mental health and her relationship to food reveals the intense emotional pain she experiences as a result of her disordered eating. Daverley also uses Rosie’s relationship with food as a metaphor for her emotional hunger, describing her as “hungry, in every sense of the word” (10). Much like her restrictive eating patterns, Rosie experiences deep emotional starvation and a longing for love and stability in her life. Her unhealthy patterns around food symbolize the emotional lack of nourishment and the void left by unresolved conflicts in her relationships, leaving her in constant want and dissatisfaction analogous to unsatisfied cravings for food.
Will’s passion for cooking provides a stark contrast to Rosie’s complicated relationship with food. Cooking becomes more than just a hobby for Will—an expression of creativity and emotional release. Preparing a meal allows him to exert precision and creativity tangibly. Cooking, with its rules, gives him a sense of agency that he doesn't feel in other parts of his life, grounds him when life becomes too overwhelming, and provides a way to channel his energy productively. Like Rosie’s music and poetry composition, cooking allows Will to express himself in ways that words cannot. The artistry of cooking gives him an outlet for expression and compassion. For example, when Rosie shows up on his doorstep, he makes her macaroni and cheese from scratch, recognizing her need for physical and emotional sustenance. Will’s culinary pursuits symbolize meaning and joy in his life—a profound tool he uses to manage his depression.
