Fall of Ruin and Wrath

The garden symbolizes peace and happiness for Lis. Throughout the novel, she goes to the garden for comfort. She uses it as a quiet place to think, tending to the plants to distract herself from Thorne, the Iron Knights, and the complexities of her relationship with Claude.

The plants within the garden play a particularly key role in providing Lis with hope for a life outside of Archwood. When Thorne pressures her to say what she wants to do in the future, she admits that she has always wanted to become a botanist. This is an important moment in her character arc, as it is one of the first times that she thinks beyond mere survival. For much of her life, she has either lived in poverty or sought to avoid it by doing Claude’s bidding. Now, at Thorne’s insistence, she considers that there might be more to life, developing themes of The Clash Between Survival and Resistance and The Struggle for Autonomy as Lis considers the possibility of having a choice in her future.

As this interaction demonstrates, the garden also serves as a source of connection between Lis and Thorne, both physically and emotionally. After Thorne kills Nathaniel and saves Lis from Muriel, the two sit together in the garden as she recovers from her injuries. As they do, Lis begins to open up with Thorne, telling him about her past and her dreams for the future. In this way, the garden represents Lis’s interiority; While she largely spends her time in the garden alone, tending to the plants and escaping from the difficulties of her life, she is now sharing key aspects of herself with Thorne.