69 pages • 2-hour read
All Good People Here
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Symbols & Motifs
Mistrust of Mothers
The mistrust of mothers is a motif that indicates the deeply rooted sexism within American society. Society harshly judges mothers for every decision they make. Because women have historically been the primary caretakers in the United States, fathers often avoid the critical gaze that society turns on mothers. This kind of scrutiny actively harms everyone in the family unit, and, in the case of Krissy and Billy, results in dire consequences.
The town’s mistrust of Krissy as a mother and their willingness to believe in her guilt play a role in obscuring the truth of January’s murder for 25 years. Through her interviews with people in town, Margot notes that, while they claim to believe in Krissy’s innocence in 2019, people still place blame squarely on Krissy’s head: “Krissy was undeniably jealous of January [...] She couldn’t handle knowing that Billy loved January more than he loved her [...] Krissy couldn’t handle a family [...] Krissy was absolutely an unfit mother” (79-80). Notably absent is criticism directed toward Krissy’s partner in parenthood, Billy. The townspeople do not accuse Billy of failing to protect his daughter, nor do they judge him for having children at a young age, the way they judge Krissy for her teenage pregnancy. This belief that Krissy was an unfit mother, regardless of evidence, highlights the town’s (and larger society’s) propensity to blame the mother when something with a child goes wrong. Billy takes advantage of this ingrained bias to bolster his own veneer of civility, allowing harsh judgment to impact Krissy’s mental health in favor of protecting his own secret.
In the aftermath of January’s murder, Krissy knows that the court of public opinion will hold her accountable. When a group of fellow mothers visit the Jacobses’ home and see traces of the spray-painted message on the wall, Krissy knows that they will spread judgmental rumors around town as soon as they leave. The detectives question January’s suggestive dance outfits: “The unspoken accusation cut through Krissy like a switchblade: bad parents. Or, perhaps more to the point, because everyone knew moms were to blame just a little bit more than dads: bad mom” (28). Krissy understands that, regardless of the facts, her community will turn its back on her.
The mistrust and suspicion the people of Wakarusa throw at Krissy underscore the fact of the case: that it was January’s presumed father who killed her. While Billy is not January’s biological father, he functioned as her father figure for her entire life. In fact, all of the other major suspects in the case—Luke, Jace, Wallace, and ultimately Billy—are male. However, even if Krissy was not personally responsible, she didn’t have the foresight to prevent any harm from ever coming to her children, which is reason enough for the public to blame her. All Good People Here highlights the harm in this belief, and in this case, the biases enable the real killer to go free.
Margot’s Coping Mechanism
When Margot is anxious, she squeezes her palms so tightly that she breaks the skin. Her palms are riddled with tiny half-moon scars she’s accumulated over the years due to this habit. This coping mechanism is one she developed in the aftermath of January’s death, and remains a symbol of the guilt that fuels her. Margot believes for most of her life that she survived only because a mysterious man murdered her friend, and that he chose January on a whim: “Margot began to envision a faceless man standing between the two houses, playing eeny, meeny, miny, moe with her friend’s bedroom window and her own. At night she’d lay in bed, squeezing her fists so tight her fingernails drew blood” (30). Apart from being a physical manifestation of the trauma Margot experienced from this loss, this action also represents Margot’s ongoing guilt. She feels relieved to be alive but believes that it is only so because of her friend’s death. This is what drives her to seek answers regarding January’s murder, which has been unsolved for 25 years at the start of the book.
As she begins researching, the coping method comes out of dormancy: “She looked down at them to find bright red indentations scattered amongst the little half-moon scars. Apparently, she’d been digging her nails into her skin. She dropped her hands and looked away. She hadn’t done that in a long time” (67). The half-moon scars that scatter her palms are a physical representation of the gnawing sense that January’s case is unfinished, even as most people in town are content to blame Krissy. Margot’s sense that the whole story is not yet known stays with her for years and leads her to uncover the truth of what really happened to January, although it comes at Margot’s own peril.
January’s Baby Blanket
January’s baby blanket is a symbol and piece of evidence that ultimately helps Margot solve the case. The blanket first appears when Margot visits Billy and recalls a story from childhood about January. Once, when Margot was scared, January pressed a small piece of snowflake-printed fabric into her hand and told her to squeeze it for bravery: “Margot squeezed again, her nails digging into flesh, the fabric snowflake crumpling between her finger, and that time, she felt it. That time, it made her brave” (99). The blanket ties directly into Margot’s coping mechanism, serving as a barrier against anxiety and pain. It becomes ineffective when she learns that January’s death was a murder: “That night in bed, she’d grabbed the little snowflake from her bedside table and squeezed so hard her nails had drawn blood” (99). The blanket symbolizes Margot’s bravery and her bond with January long before it functions as a key plot device.
Margot does not think about the blanket again until Jace describes the night that he found January at the bottom of the basement stairs: “[T]here was a little scrap of her baby blanket in her hand. Dad gave us both blankets when we were born, and January loved hers. Mom had washed it so many times by then, all that was left was a little square” (182). This jogs Margot’s memory of the time she first encountered the blanket. The repetition implies that it has larger meaning, that it is important beyond just being a symbol of January’s kindness and innocence.
As she leaves Billy’s house at the end of the book, Margot spots a photo of January holding “a scrap of fabric—light blue with white snowflakes [...] ‘Just like the night she died’” (294). When Margot places the blanket at the crime scene, she realizes that January, due to her cause of death, could not have held onto her blanket—meaning that someone (Billy) placed it in her hand before Jace and Krissy found her body. What was initially a simple symbol of childlike innocence becomes the key to solving a decades-old murder. While it ties up the final loose thread in the case, it also leads to Billy attacking Margot, desperate to protect his secret. The novel ends without answering whether Margot will ever get to expose how the baby blanket reveals what really happened to January.
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