48 pages • 1 hour read
Tana FrenchThe Hunter
Fiction | Novel | Adult | 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
The Gold Ring
Johnny’s gold ring is a symbol of greed and illusion. The Ardnakelty men convince themselves that they will not let Johnny swindle them when he returns home. However, as soon as Johnny and Rushborough play on Ardnakelty’s dreams of wealth, the gold ring serves as a lure to hook them into Johnny’s con. When Rushborough tells the men that the ring is a family heirloom made with the gold from Ardnakelty, the men fall into Rushborough’s trap willingly because they want to believe that wealth is attainable. Even though Johnny later reveals that he bought the ring at a pawn shop, the story that Johnny and Rushborough weave around the ring emphasizes the illusion of the gold. The Ardnakelty men let their greed guide them as they choose to believe in the lies of Johnny and Rushborough rather than listen to their intuition.
The Ardnakelty Mountains
The Ardnakelty mountains are a symbol of isolation and ostracization. The Reddy house is the only home on the mountain, which adds to Ardnakelty’s disparaging view of them. The mountain symbolizes the loneliness that Trey experiences when she goes into Ardnakelty. Even though Cal warns Trey about walking on the mountain at night because he thinks she could fall into a ditch, she knows the mountain so well that she ignores his advice. She and her siblings have explored every aspect of the mountain in their free time, and they feel at home there in a way that they do not in the town. When Trey burns the shed, she sacrifices the part of the mountain that has been both the cause of and her refuge from the discrimination from Ardnakelty. With the mountain burned, Trey knows that she will feel exposed to societal pressures and judgments, yet she chooses to give it up to save Sheila.
The Fire
The fire that Trey sets in the shed is a motif that represents freedom from the past. Although the fire has the power to destroy and even kill Trey, Cal protects her from danger, and the fire symbolically cleanses Trey of her desire for revenge. Trey knows that the fire erases any hope of her ever finding Brendan’s grave. Although this makes her sad, she knows that focusing on helping and protecting the people around her who are still alive is more important than avenging the dead. Since it is Trey’s idea to start the fire in the first place, she effectively chooses to release her plan for revenge on the Ardnakelty people. While this does not take away her grief, the fire removes the urge to act upon it in a harmful way and saves her mother from suffering the consequences of her actions. In terms of plot structure, the fire symbolizes the divide between Trey’s youth and adulthood, marking her growth when she decides to value loving relationships over revenge. It helps transform her storyline into a coming-of-age narrative.
Brendan’s Grave
Brendan’s grave is a motif that represents Trey’s grief. Although Trey never mentions the grave aloud to Johnny, he constantly reminds her of the presence of the grave unwittingly. Johnny does not know that Brendan is dead; instead, he believes that Brendan went looking for Johnny and will eventually return home. However, Trey knows the truth that Cal discovered in The Searcher: A group of Ardnakelty men murdered Brendan. Trey promised Cal that she would not try to find out who killed Brendan, but she has trouble releasing her grief, which eventually turns into a desire for revenge. Even before Trey forms her plan to punish the Ardnakelty men, she searches for any sign of the grave every time she wanders on the mountain. When she fails to find it, she decides that the only thing that will satisfy her will be to punish Ardnakelty. Lena realizes that Trey’s grief has gotten out of control when Trey tells her that she does not care if she punishes the right people; she just wants to know that someone will suffer because of what happened to Brendan. Through Cal and Lena’s intervention, Trey realizes that her obsession with revenge is an expression of her grief that has gone unchecked. Trey’s acknowledgment of her grief allows her to let go of her desire for revenge and any hope of finding Brendan’s grave.
Related Titles
By Tana French
