57 pages • 1 hour read
A. B. PoranekWhere the Dark Stands Still
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
Butterflies
Butterflies serve as a motif of The Magic of Self-Acceptance. Liska’s magic appears in the form of butterflies throughout the novel, and her relationship with herself heals as she embraces her power. At the beginning of the story, Liska associates the butterflies with fear, destruction, and guilt because her magic caused the deaths of her father and Tomasz Prawota. These negative associations are apparent in the way Liska reacts to the butterflies that fill her mind during the soul-reading spell in Chapter 15: “[T]here are blue butterflies everywhere, the color of periwinkles, the color of Mama’s eyes, and Liska’s, too, and the color of sins” (135). By making the butterflies the same periwinkle blue as Liska’s eyes, Poranek emphasizes that Liska’s magic is an important part of her rather than a malignant force as her faith has conditioned her to believe.
Confronting her trauma changes the way Liska views the butterflies, as evidenced by the first spell she casts after opening up about Tomasz’s death: “Blue light haloes her hands, swirling in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope, taking the shape of a butterfly’s wings” (208). This description presents the butterflies as something beautiful and awe-inspiring rather than fearful. During the novel’s epilogue, Liska’s “blue butterflies” frolic with Basia’s “bees of yellow magic” (352), illustrating that Liska can help other czarownik embrace their power now that she has done so herself. Liska’s relationship with her magical butterflies transforms as she learns to embrace her power, reflecting the protagonist’s journey to self-acceptance.
Deer
Poranek uses deer as symbols of Eliasz and Liska. The Leszy assumes the guise of a stag, and this form highlights his majesty as the Driada’s ruler. The narrator emphasizes his regal traits by describing his antlers as “a majestic crown built of uncountable, birch-pale tines” and by observing that “the trees bow away from him, pulling back their branches in deference” (8, 9). The Leszy’s stag form suggests that he has upright qualities and noble intentions even though Liska initially sees him as a foe. Structurally, the symbol helps to bring the novel full circle because Liska first sees him in his cervine form and he appears as a “beautiful stag” in the epilogue. This final appearance assures Liska and the reader that Eliasz retains his noble qualities after his rebirth.
The author reinforces the couple’s chemistry by symbolically comparing Liska to a doe. For example, the protagonist wields Onegdaj, a dagger with a handle “done in the likeness of a doe with glittering turquoise eyes” (109). The Leszy gives her the blade because he believes that she is capable of killing him and breaking the curse. Thus, the doe-handled dagger signals that she is his other half and measures up to him in a way none of his previous apprentices did. In Chapter 20, Eliasz tells Kazimiera that he will not allow “one intrepid, doe-eyed girl [to] ruin seven hundred years of stability” (174). Even as he attempts to dismiss his romantic feelings for Liska, his wording gives him away. He becomes a stag, so describing her as “doe-eyed” alludes to their compatibility as a couple. Poranek uses deer symbolism to illustrate that Liska and the Leszy are destined for one another.
Color Symbolism
Drawing from Slavic folklore, Poranek uses the color red to symbolize protection. For this reason, Liska wears a traditional “string of beads in rowanberry red” into the spirit-wood in Chapter 1. Given red rowanberries’ use as “a ward against demons” (6), the House under the Rowan Tree may seem like an ironic name for the Leszy’s manor. However, Eliasz is not actually a demon, and he has “dedicated [his] life to protecting the human realm” (143). As the story continues, the author uses the symbolic color to underscore the Leszy’s self-sacrificial nature. He sheds “reddish blood-sap” to defend humans from demons, and “deep wine red” human blood pours from his wounds after he sacrifices himself to end the threat Weles poses to Orlica (337). The symbolic meaning of the color red gives insight into the Leszy’s true nature.
As in Slavic folktales, white represents the realm of magic and spirits. All the supernatural beings and powers in the fantasy novel originate in the in-between, “the realm of spirits, the place between death and life” (125). Poranek incorporates this traditional symbolism into her characters’ appearances by making czarownik’s hair turn white when they overexert their magic. For example, the “white streak” near Liska’s temple appeared when she killed Tomasz Prawota and provides a constant reminder of how magic has changed her life. Similarly, Eliasz’s “raven hair” turns to “snow-whiteness” after he creates the Driada. The Leszy’s “wan and ashen” skin and “pale sukmana” further emphasize his enormous magical power and his role as a guardian who stands between humans and spirits. The color white can also signify death and rebirth in Slavic folklore. In keeping with this meaning, the white-haired Eliasz dies and is reborn as a spectral stag “white as starlight” (353). Poranek’s use of white illustrates how the main characters’ lives are inextricably tied to magic and spirits.
