66 pages • 2 hours read
Charlie DonleaTwenty Years Later
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A 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
Boats and Sailing
Many characters in the novel sail or are critically connected to boats. Avery and Christopher have sailed their entire lives, from Connie’s camp through to the present, while Cameron and Tessa Young took Victoria and Jasper Ford on sailing trips, and Dom and Natalie Ratcliff have built their wealth on cruises. In each case, sailing and boats represent freedom or release from everyday pressures, which takes on different significance for each group of characters. For Cameron and Tessa, sailing is their downfall, as Victoria uses sailing knots to implicate Tessa in Cameron’s murder, subverting sailing’s association with freedom.
For Avery and Christopher, sailing initially represents freedom from the city and from their family’s wealth, with Avery reflecting on her summers at Connie’s camp as a release from the ostentatious wealth and opulence of Garth Montgomery’s lifestyle. Sailing continues to provide an escape from the pressures of their lives, with Avery noting that she tries to sail at least once a week. In the end, it is on a sailboat that Christopher finds his freedom, as he sails around the Caribbean under a false identity to avoid potential prosecution for his role in Garth’s crimes. Previously, it was through the sinking of Avery’s sailboat that he was able to fake his death and escape that same threat.
The Ratcliff International Cruise Line, or RICL, contains the same symbolism as the sailboats, but on a much grander scale. While Christopher sails the Caribbean and Avery sails weekly, the cruise line can totally remove a character from their present situation. Both Christopher and Victoria use the cruise line to literally escape the United States and the threat of prosecution. For Victoria, while sailing could not ensure her freedom, the cruise line did, bringing her to Santorini and saving her from the threat of time in jail.
Rum
Early in the novel, Walt seems to have an alcohol addiction, and, as more of Walt’s life is revealed, his addiction is explained as an unhealthy coping mechanism in the aftermath of trauma. Walt’s partner, Jason, was killed in a shooting, in which Walt was also critically injured, and, in the immediate fallout from that shooting, Walt discovered that his girlfriend, Meghan Cobb, was also his partner’s wife. These dual traumas destroyed Walt’s ability to trust other people. They also destroyed his reputation and career with the FBI. Rum specifically is a symbol of Walt’s withdrawal from the world around him, but it gradually becomes another symbol of freedom by the end of the novel, much as sailing and boats represent escape for other characters.
In many ways, rum is associated with Jamaica in the novel, as Walt makes a specific point that he prefers Jamaican rum. He fled to Jamaica in his early retirement, and therefore the country represents his early attempts to remove himself from the life he led in New York. Much as fleeing to Jamaica physically removes Walt from the site of his trauma, drinking heavily mentally removes him from the memories and feelings associated with trauma. His addiction to alcohol illustrates how hiding from his problems is unhealthy and unhelpful.
In the end of the novel, Walt is considering moving back to the United States, which shows that he is on his way to healing from his past traumas. However, rum remains a key symbol—not of withdrawal, but of freedom. Just as Christopher can sustain himself by working in a rum distillery for a few months out of the year, Walt is free to come and go from Jamaica as he pleases, and he can enjoy his rum without feeling the need to escape, either to another country or to heavy drinking.
Recording Devices
Two recording devices feature prominently in the novel: the FBI listening devices that James Oliver gives Walt, and the camera Victoria uses to record her and Cameron’s sexual activity. In each case, the device is a symbol of betrayal, as they both rely on secret placement to record an unknowing subject. Even as Avery and Walt use the device together, they do so to betray Garth, who believes his daughter is sincerely reaching out to him. This symbolism has implications for the novel’s treatment of journalism, as Avery’s segments are recorded and then edited by Christine Swanson, implying that Avery, too, is perpetrating a degree of deception with her audience.
For Victoria, the camera is a way to ensnare investigators, and, though her plan fails in the 2001 investigation, she is ultimately successful in convincing Avery that she and Cameron did not engage in truly violent sex acts. Cameron is not aware of the recording, and Victoria angles the camera to look like it’s being used by a spy, planting the video with Tessa’s belongings to lead investigators to look at Tessa as a suspect. Victoria’s recording is an act of betrayal both against Cameron, as she exposes his private sex life, and Tessa, as she frames Tessa for murder.
Walt breaks this cycle of deception by refusing to place the recording device in Avery’s room, which is symbolic of Walt choosing not to betray Avery, an act which becomes a critical step for both Walt and Avery in overcoming their trauma. However, Avery and Walt then use this device to betray Garth, though they see this betrayal as necessary to bring Garth to justice and to save Christopher. Avery’s special at the end of the novel is a culmination of how recordings represent betrayal, as Avery paints Victoria as an innocent woman who died on 9/11, when the truth is that Victoria is not only alive, but she is also guilty of Cameron’s murder. Avery only intended to deceive her audience by affirming that Victoria is dead, but she is unwittingly deceived by Victoria.
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By Charlie Donlea
