51 pages • 1 hour read
Penelope DouglasBirthday Girl
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A 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
Birthday Candles
Birthday candles represent hopes and dreams. Pike creates a makeshift candle for Jordan in the form of a lit match. Since birthday candles are meaningful to Jordan, Pike’s gesture resonates with her, creating an instant connection between the two. Jordan also loves to light candles around the house, making a wish each time she blows them out. The wish she makes is always the same: “[L]et tomorrow be better than today” (39). This wish reflects on Jordan’s troubled childhood. It also shows Jordan’s positive outlook and resilience.
When Pike misses Jordan intensely after her move to Virginia, he gets a birthday candle tattooed on his forearm to remind him of her. For Pike, the burning candle represents light and fire, like Jordan. In the Epilogue, Jordan puts out a candle again, telling Pike that she always wishes for the same thing, suggesting that her wish is to be with Pike. According to Jordan, her wish comes true every time. This symbolizes the power of love, dreams, and hope to conquer all obstacles.
1980s Pop Culture References
References to 1980s movies, such as Evil Dead (1981), Cocktail (1988), and The Breakfast Club (1985), as well as music artists and bands like George Michael and Metallica, pepper the text. Jordan tells Pike that she loves 1980s pop culture, a taste that Cole does not share. This suggests that Jordan, though young, transcends her generation and is well suited for Pike. Jordan is also named after the protagonist of Cocktail, and like the characters in that movie, she works as a bartender. While Pike does not like all things 1980s, he does like the action and horror movies of the era. Thus, the references symbolize the similarities between them.
Cole does not like the movies and music of the 1980s. Jordan’s interest and his disdain show that Pike, and not Cole, is Jordan’s rightful match. The aesthetic of the1980s involves kitsch and an unapologetic portrayal of gendered norms and taboo themes; therefore, the references are a meta-textual allusion to the novel itself. For instance, George Michael’s song “Father Figure” describes someone seeking a close relationship with a person to whom they look up. Jordan seeks a similar relationship with Pike.
Pike’s House
Pike’s house, a sanctuary for Jordan and the setting within which Pike and Jordan bond, illustrates The Ability of Love to Conquer All. It serves as an oasis of safety and domesticity. When Jordan sees the house, she is instantly smitten. Jordan describes it as “a simple, two-story craftsman […] redone, beautiful, well-kept, and the front and back yards are green” (22). For Jordan, the house represents beauty, order—and in the form of its green spaces—hope and fresh chances. Jordan loves the interiors and the hourglass-shaped pool, reveling in the expansive, domestic spaces.
The house’s role as a sanctuary becomes clear in its contrast with Meadow Lakes. Unlike the order of Pike’s house, Chip’s trailer at Meadow Lakes is shabby and chaotic. While Jordan has her own, large bedroom in Pike’s house, her room and bed at the trailer are weighted with clutter, and there’s a hole in the wall. Pike immediately decides to rescue Jordan from the trailer and takes her back to the safety of his house. Jordan resents Pike’s imperiousness but admits that his house is better than her father’s home. The house comes to represent a space where Jordan and Pike can blossom and develop as individuals. After Jordan moves in, she notices that the house contains few of Pike’s personal artifacts. Pike tells her that those are still packed up. Though Pike has created a space for himself, he has not been able to inhabit it. Jordan helps him turn the house into a home and fully be himself within its walls. Thus, the house also symbolizes the redemptive, healing power of love.
Related Titles
By Penelope Douglas
