55 pages • 1 hour read
Holly JacksonThe Reappearance of Rachel Price
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A 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
Memory
Memory is a recurring motif connected to The Impact of Mistrust and Deception. Charlie intentionally trains Bel to mistrust her own recollection of events so that he can control her, as when he insists that her memory of being left alone for several hours is false and that she was really only left for 15 minutes. His loving and jovial delivery when he denies her memories is designed to make him seem like a warm and loving father, as when he hugs and kisses Bel while laughing away her version of events. This dynamic positions Charle as a seemingly truthful character who cares about his daughter and is amused at her tendency to misremember key details about the past. However, when Uncle Jeff later confirms Bel’s version of events Charlie’s innate dishonesty is unmasked, leading to Bel’s more extensive realizations about the Price family’s past and Charlie’s gaslighting tendencies.
Later, it is revealed that Charlie used similar strategies to attempt to control Rachel, for as she herself admits, “For months, he tried to make me think I’d lost my mind, so I’d need him, so I’d never leave. […] Oh, Rachel, you left the front door open. Rachel, sweetie, you left the oven on […] [H]e was good at it, I started to doubt myself” (313). As Bel increasingly learns to trust her own memory of events, she uncovers Charlie’s manipulative and dishonest tendencies and accepts the harsh reality that Charlie plotted to kill Rachel.
The importance of memory also manifests in Patrick’s dementia, which drives key moments of the plot. For example, he forgets about his years-long ploy of keeping Rachel imprisoned, which he believed to be a merciful alternative to killing her. Because of his dementia, he releases her, creating the inciting incident of Rachel’s return and initiating the novel’s rising action. Furthermore, although Patrick’s occasional rage at Charlie on the topic of Rachel is dismissed as the raving of an unwell man, his outbursts are in fact a clue to Charlie’s ploy to kill his wife.
The Baby Sock
The symbolism of the baby sock, which Bel discovers in Rachel’s bedside table drawer, shifts as the story progresses. Initially, it is implied to prove Rachel’s intention to leave, for Bel interprets it as a memento that Rachel took as a reminder of Bel. This misinterpretation hardens Bel against Rachel and plays into Bel’s Fear of Abandonment. Later, however, the baby sock comes to symbolize Rachel’s immense love for Carter, to whom the sock belonged, and, by extension, the sock also indicates her enduring love for Bel and her determination to be reunited with both of her daughters.
The Santa Mug
Charlie initially accuses either Bel or Rachel of breaking his Santa mug, but Bel eventually finds it unbroken and hidden. In this moment, an important shift occurs whereby Bel comes to understand Charlie’s manipulative ways. What had always seemed like the loving remonstrations of a concerned father are suddenly revealed as manipulative examples of gaslighting that are designed to increase Bel’s reliance on Charlie, for he encourages her to trust his version of events above her own.
The malicious and secretive nature of Charlie’s lies is represented by the carefully hidden mug. As Bel observes, “It was here, hiding in the shadows at the back. Santa’s beaming face and cracked skin” (285). This metaphor alludes to the truth behind Charlie’s lies, and just as every child must eventually realize that there is no Santa, Bel also realizes that Charlie is not the benevolent and caring father that she has long believed him to be. The cracked visage of Santa’s face thus represents Charlie’s irreparably broken reputation as a good father in Bel’s eyes. Her furious disillusionment is indicated when she “pull[s] out the trash can [and] dump[s] the Santa mug inside, where it belong[s]” (285). In this moment, Bel’s allegiance switches from Charlie to Rachel.
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By Holly Jackson
