After You
50 pages • 1-hour read
Jojo MoyesAfter You
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Symbols & Motifs
Louisa’s Wardrobe
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and mental health conditions.
Louisa Clark’s wardrobe is symbolic of identity. Before Will Traynor’s death, Louisa used to dress in colorful, mismatched, and flamboyant outfits. Her clothes were her unique way of expressing herself. In the wake of losing Will, however, Louisa stops dressing in this manner. She “bag[s] up everything that [has] ever made [her] distinctive, and stuff[s] those bags into the back of [her] wardrobe” (32). Hiding her clothes is thus Louisa’s way of disassociating from the person she was when she was with Will. She thinks if she stops presenting herself in the way she did when Will was alive, she can convince others and herself that she’s a different person. In the narrative present, she instead wears a “uniform of jeans and a generic tee” (32), outfits which are so neutral they void Louisa’s once unique identity.
Louisa’s true self reemerges when she starts dressing in her old clothes once more. Lily Miller is the first one to discover Lily’s old wardrobe and to interrogate her about her altered appearance. Louisa initially dismisses Lily’s questions because she isn’t ready to reconcile with the past and love herself again. Once she begins to heal, Louisa excavates her colorful tights, skirts, and dresses and begins to dress in a way that feels most true to herself. The evolution of Louisa’s relationship with her wardrobe parallels The Complicated Process of Grieving and Healing. When she is mired in grief, she feels detached from herself; when she begins to process her grief, she rediscovers herself anew.
Roof and Rooftop Garden
Louisa’s roof and rooftop garden are symbolic of risk and new life. At the novel’s start, Louisa is attached to the roof. She likes hanging out there when she is feeling sad and alone. Walking the parapet feels like the closest thing she can get to engaging with life and experiencing newness in the aftermath of Will’s death. However, after she falls from the roof, the setting becomes a realm of fear and danger. She avoids the roof for several weeks because she is terrified of losing control again and experiencing pain once more. The same is true of how Louisa regards her life. She shies away from new experiences and new relationships (metaphoric rooftops in her life) as a way to avoid experiencing pain. However, once Louisa starts to heal from her loss, she braves the roof once more—an accomplishment that reinvigorates her spirit and reminds her of all that life might offer.
The roof is also where the garden is located. At the novel’s start, the garden is just a bunch of dead plants and empty, broken pots. The neglected plants mirror Louisa’s neglected life and heart, particularly in the wake of Will’s death. Later, Lily secretly replants the garden, transforming it into a proverbial Eden. The garden’s evolution captures how new relationships and experiences reawaken Louisa to life after loss. Indeed, just as Lily replants Louisa’s literal garden, she also plants metaphoric seeds of hope and love in Louisa’s heart.
Moving On Circle
The Moving On Circle is symbolic of the community support Louisa needs to heal from great loss. Louisa initially starts attending the group at her father’s behest; he insists that if she’s going to move back to her London flat, she must find support through her grief. She therefore has little investment in the group and little intention of attending beyond the first meeting. Furthermore, she feels as if everyone else’s stories are more valid than her own—she and Will only knew each other for six months, while other group members are mourning mothers, husbands, wives, and children.
Despite her initial reservations and fears, the Moving On Circle offers Louisa the love, kindness, and care she has needed since Will’s death. As Marc tells her during her first session, she is “in a circle of trust,” and “it’s brave of [her] to come here and tell [her] story” (40). The more often she attends, the more true she finds Marc’s words. She not only discovers that the group members are caring, thoughtful, and empathetic but also that articulating her and Will’s story is beneficial to her emotional healing.
The image of the Moving On Circle releasing their balloons at the novel’s end reiterates their role in Louisa’s transformation. Her grief is distinct to her, but through the support of the grief group, she can let go of Will and live beyond his death. (She releases her balloons as a way to release her sorrow.)
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