The Push: Mother. Daughter. Angel. Monster?

In the most literal sense, the novel’s title refers to Violet’s real or imagined push of Sam’s stroller, which sends him into the street to his death. The tension in the novel’s last half revolves around the question of whether the push occurred. If it did, then Violet is a murderer, Fox is a passive-aggressive gaslighter, and Blythe is vindicated. This vindication comes in two forms: One, Blythe will have been correct about Violet, proving to her family that Blythe was not imagining things. Two, it will show that Blythe is not to blame for causing Sam’s death because merely letting go of the stroller was not enough to send it rolling into the intersection.

On a more symbolic level, the push refers to all the ways that Blythe pushes away everyone she loves, including Fox, Helen, and Gemma, after Sam’s death—and even before that. Ironically, however, as Blythe pushes these people away, she also pulls Violet closer, as if her need to prove that she did not fail as a mother outweighs her hatred at her daughter for killing Sam.