58 pages • 1 hour read
Lily KingWriters and Lovers
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A 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
Geese
The geese that Casey pauses to admire symbolize her connection with her mother. Casey finds the geese graceful and liberated; they are satisfied with their lives in the park but able to fly away when the weather shifts. Now that her mother is dead, Casey must deal with both abandonments on her own, and she projects her desire to connect with her mother onto the geese. Like the birds, her mother lived for herself, but it didn’t mean that Casey was unloved or unsupported.
Two moments stand out as poignantly symbolic events with the geese. The first is when Casey, in the depths of her anxiety and stress, stops to sing to the geese. She remembers that her mother loved Casey’s singing voice, and she releases that emotion of unconditional support onto the geese, as if in singing to them she can sing to her mother. The second is in the final chapter of the book, when Casey and Silas watch the geese begin their journeys to warmer climates. Casey is sad to know that she will be so busy that she will not notice when the geese all leave, but that sadness runs parallel to her appreciation of their instinct to fly. When Casey accepts that the geese will fly away of their own accord, with or without her blessing, she finally accepts the reality of her mother’s passing. Like the geese, her mother will not be with her physically but will be with her spiritually. This final release is Casey’s most important moment of character development, emphasized by the picture of a flock of geese included after the very last sentence of the book.
Reading and Writing
The art of words is Casey’s lifeline. It is so integral to her understanding of the world that it’s also part of King’s overall message concerning the importance of reading and writing. Literature is how Casey connects to other people; she trusts people the most when they share literary loves, and she values words so much that all of her closest relationships are based in reading and writing. With Paco, Casey’s longest relationship, Casey discovers a connection with him in learning and using his language. After Paco, her most passionate affairs are all with fellow writers. Luke, Oscar, and Silas all write with different approaches, but Casey uses their identities as writers to connect with them and to determine what kind of person they are. When Oscar doesn’t even read Silas’s story—the same story that deeply moves Casey—she realizes the extent of Oscar’s inability to support other people. When Luke’s poetry reading comes with an ovation, Casey realizes through his writing that he used their physical connection to draw direct inspiration for his poetry, even though he dumped her without a word directly afterwards. The ways characters approach reading and writing have a direct influence on how Casey views them, including marginal characters such as Vera, with whom Casey has an intensely electric conversation when they first meet because they discuss books that they both love. Because Casey gains access to other people through literature, King is able to symbolically emphasize the importance of Casey’s own identity as a writer: She literally cannot live without reading and writing.
Iris
Iris is the restaurant Casey works at for the majority of the novel, but it really functions as a symbolic secondary character. Iris represents the contradictory nature of Casey’s life. Even though working there is chaotic, it affords Casey the freedom to write in the mornings. It is also where Casey meets antagonists and precious friends alike, such as Harry. Iris is the clearest example of a family unit in Casey’s life; people fight and get in each other’s way, but they also have each other’s backs. This is highlighted in Casey’s relationship with Marcus, who is like the human representation of Iris. He fires Casey even though Casey was defending herself against an assault from Clark, but he also hangs up on Casey’s loan creditors who want Marcus to automatically send them some of Casey’s meager earnings. When Casey’s shifts go well at Iris, there’s a certain harmony and logic in the world. But when the shifts go poorly, it emphasizes how stressful Casey’s life outside of work is. Iris is temperamental and unstable, bringing the joy of a good tip or the degradation of a rude customer. At Iris, Casey can observe many different types of people with her writer’s eye, and in working with others Casey also learns about herself. In this way, Iris is where Casey grows up. Iris is a place, but it is also the personification of Casey’s inner world.
Bees
King uses the motif of bees to represent the ups and downs of life. For example, Casey describes her panic attacks and her stresses with the imagery of bees. Whenever she can feel her panic and anxiety escalate, the feeling is that she has bees in her body that pick and prod at her. In this context, the bees are dangerous and frightening. Later, when beautiful things happen and Casey starts to achieve all of her dreams, the imagery King uses to describe Casey’s feelings embodies the sensation of having honey running through her body. The bees that tortured Casey suddenly become productive and nurturing. This symbolizes that we appreciate when things go well in our lives—the “honey moments”—because of the difficult moments in our lives, or the “bee moments.” One cannot exist without the other, emphasizing the message of staying true to your own life and never giving up on your desires.
