49 pages • 1-hour read
Beautiful Venom
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of childhood trauma, graphic violence, emotional manipulation, and death.
Car Crash
When Dahlia Thorne was six years old, her parents died in a car crash. The recurring images and scenes of the crash throughout the novel act as a motif that represents Dahlia’s lingering childhood trauma. At times, Dahlia has nightmares about the crash, and in some of the nightmares, her parents blame her for killing them, even calling her a murderer.
These nightmares convey Dahlia’s guilt and remorse. She blames herself for her parents’ deaths and is haunted by shame. In other dreams, the true nature of the incident is further twisted as Dahlia’s foster sister Violet dies in the car crash along with her parents. This shift conveys Dahlia’s fear that she will lose the only family she has left, illustrating her still-pervasive fear of abandonment. At other times, Kane Davenport and the Vencor members play footage of the car crash in front of Dahlia to psychologically torment her, and the footage disturbs her because it stirs up her trauma and stunts her healing journey. The recurring images of and references to the crash underscore the intensity of Dahlia’s emotional and psychological trauma, underscoring the novel’s emphasis on the importance of Leaving the Past Behind to Embrace the Future.
Maine
Maine is the state where Dahlia was born, but it is also the place where her parents passed away. After the car crash, Dahlia was put into the foster care system and left Maine. She has not returned to the state since she was six years old. Her refusal to visit Maine conveys her fraught relationship with this geographical setting—it is the place where she lost everything. She fears returning because she has yet to fully confront and make peace with her trauma. In these ways, the setting symbolizes Dahlia’s past life.
Dahlia makes peace with her past when she and Kane take a road trip back to Maine, emphasizing The Importance of Human Connection in Overcoming Trauma. When she invites Kane, she explains that she “want[s] to see [her] hometown again” (364). Kane also notices “a softness” and “a smidge of fear” in her face when she proposes this plan (365). Her facial expressions convey her hesitance to revisit her past. Dahlia wants to heal from and transcend her trauma, but this step takes courage.
Dahlia makes amends with her past when she arrives in Maine, climbs the mountain, and speaks to her late parents. The image of the rocky cliff “that overlooks the deep blue ocean” is symbolic of purity, renewal, and healing, as water is an archetype of rebirth (369). Dahlia has physically reentered her past but is now confronting the place without fear. She is looking out over the watery abyss, addressing her parents, and trying to move forward.
Ravenswood Hill
Ravenswood Hill is the home where Kane grew up with his parents Grant and Helena Davenport. For Kane, this place is haunted by memories of his traumatic childhood. The setting represents Kane’s emotional turmoil. Whenever he is here, he is overcome by fear of his father and frustration with his mother. This is the place where his father has abused him for years, and where his mother has historically failed to defend him.
However, just as Kane’s companionship in Maine helped Dahlia to gain closure with regard to her parents’ accident, Dahlia’s presence at Ravenswood Hill gradually helps Kane to form a different relationship with the place. Dahlia spends time here because she genuinely likes Helena and sympathizes with her. She encourages Kane to visit more often, and his changing relationship with the setting becomes a metaphor for his healing from the trauma of his upbringing.
Vencor
Vencor is the name of the secret society of which Kane is a Senior Member. The society is built on the reputations of four rich and powerful families: the Davenports, the Callahans, the Osborns, and the Armstrongs. These families all own large companies and run the Graystone neighborhood. They also have violent reputations, and the community fears them because they do not hesitate to use violence to get what they want. The secret society moves to the fore of the narrative when Dahlia penetrates the secret society in an attempt to avenge her sister Violet.
Vencor symbolizes power and wealth, while Dahlia grew up in the foster care system. Her parents died when she was six, and her only true confidante is Violet. She doesn’t come from money and has no connections. Vencor sees her as a threat and tries to destroy her because they fear she will expose their immoral practices. Vencor members also believe that their elite status gives them the license to treat anyone—particularly people like Dahlia—without care or compassion. The society represents the microcosm of the ultra-wealthy in American society, in which the wealthy and elite have a great deal of unofficial power over working-class citizens. Culturally, this top tier of society is seen to have social, medical, legal, and economic advantages, but as the novel illustrates, this privilege can strip such citizens of their humanity: Vencor members never use their power and money for good, but rather for evil and profit.
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