“Esther had always wondered how mothers buried children, and now she knew. One shovelful of dirt at a time.”

The quote develops the theme of Grief and Loss as Catalysts for Change by highlighting the banality of grief. Esther previously assumed there was a secret to handling loss, but the death of her daughter forces her to realize that this is not the case: The only way to cope with loss is simply to keep going. Much of the sincerest grieving in the novel is quiet and pragmatic.

“Her father never openly discussed his finances but Isaac was quick to remind her that only people with money could afford not to talk about it.”

The setting of the Great Depression makes the divide between rich and poor a recurring topic throughout the novel. Isaac’s primary motivation is his obsession with earning his own money, which generates conflict in his marriage. In establishing that conflict, this passage foreshadows Isaac’s eventual abandonment of his wife.

“There was little debate that things in Germany were getting bad. Since coming to power the year before, the Nazi Party had already removed Jews from the civil service, curtailed the rights of Jewish doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, forbidden performances of Jewish actors, and restricted the number of Jewish students allowed to attend German schools and universities.”

This is one of the few moments when the novel expressly states the conditions that Jewish people faced in Germany as early as 1934. These conditions drive Anna’s plotline and form a backdrop to the stories of the novel’s Jewish American characters; the details remind readers of the potential consequences of the antisemitism the characters face while also contrasting with the American setting.

“Maybe Isaac was old-fashioned but a girl not being able to go to college hardly seemed like an international crisis.”

The question of women’s education is one that appears several times throughout the novel, developing the theme of The Complexity of Gender Expectations. Isaac’s comments reflect both his traditional upbringing and his selfish motivations: He sees Anna as competition in his quest to extract more resources from Joseph.

“His mind flashed through images: Florence tucking her hair under her red bathing cap, Florence plunging into the waves from the side of the rescue boat, Florence taking notes in the notebook with the pale blue cover. Quickly it came to him. ‘We call ourselves the Florence Adler Swims Forever Society.’”

The title of the novel is also the title of the secret society that Anna, Stuart, and Gussie form, which in turn comes from the title of Florence’s swimming journal. Besides allowing Florence to live on figuratively, the name implies a connection between Florence’s legacy and the decision to keep news of her death from Fannie. The implication is that Florence would have wanted to protect Fannie and her baby, developing the theme of The Costs and Benefits of Secrecy.

“He could see their expressions go blank, as they calculated his father’s net worth and determined that Stuart was not just well off, but rich. Stuart was neither of those things—not really. His father’s money came with too many strings attached, and the money he made lifeguarding and coaching was just enough to cover his bar tabs and the rent he paid for a room in Mrs. Tate’s Northside boardinghouse.”

Stuart rejects his father’s money until he has a noble reason to accept it (helping Anna’s parents immigrate to the US). The opulence of the Covington Hotel contrasts with Stuart’s humility.

“[H]is father […] maintained his grandfather’s belief that Jews—and most definitely Negros—had no business staying at a hotel as grand as the Covington.”

This is one of the novel’s few explicit depictions of antisemitism. It highlights the oppression Jewish people faced in the United States and associates that mistreatment with racism broadly (e.g., prejudice against Black Americans).

“Every family has its issues. I offer my family’s up to you only as explanation for why I’m such a pain in the ass.”

Though Stuart is commenting on his own family, his remark also highlights the complexity within the dynamics of the Adler family and Anna’s family. It suggests that a person’s upbringing plays a significant role in shaping their behavior, though Stuart himself is in many ways a counterexample: He does not share his family’s prejudices. By contrast, the novel implies that Isaac’s insecurities have much to do with his background as the son of poor Jewish immigrants.

“How was it possible to both pine and resent a place so much at the same time?”

Anna hates Germany because of the oppression she and her family faced there, but she also misses it. Her homesickness represents another iteration of grief—one of the novel’s key themes.

“Florence brushed her lips against the corner of Anna’s mouth and pulled back slightly, as if watching for some signal. Did Anna want this? It was hard to know anymore. Without giving herself any more time to think, Anna lifted her head, ever so slightly, from the pillow and let Florence’s mouth, warm and inquisitive, absorb her heartache.”

Florence’s and Anna’s kiss is the only secret that remains at the end of the novel. It is also the only moment that raises the question of Florence’s orientation in a novel that otherwise does not deal with LGBTQ+ issues. The implication that Florence may have been queer further characterizes her as someone who challenged convention and boundaries.

“She just knew that if her own mother had stitched her anything half as pretty, Gussie would have carried it around in her pocket like a kiss.”

The novel communicates Gussie’s feelings of abandonment through her desire for a handkerchief stitched with love. The moment is a reminder that Gussie is functionally without parents, which contributes to the loss of innocence she experiences over the course of the novel.

“Hiding Florence’s death from Fannie might be unconventional, but she’d never once thought of it as cruel.”

Esther reflects on Dr. Rosenthal’s comment that he initially thought hiding Florence’s death was cruel to Fannie. An unanswered question in the novel is whether secrecy can be healing; the successful resolution of Fannie’s pregnancy suggests that the answer may be yes.

“‘We both know he’d sooner eat his own hat than visit a hospital.’ It was true. Joseph wasn’t the type to go anywhere near a hospital, and Fannie knew it as well as Esther did. How did men manage to get away with that? What if Esther hadn’t been the type to make dinner in the evenings? They would all have starved.”

Esther reflects on the burden of duties placed on women and the fact that men can opt out of duties because they are men. Esther’s need to care for the family exacerbates the grief she feels following Florence’s death, but by the end of the novel, she and Joseph arrive at a more equitable distribution of responsibilities.

“Esther had told herself that one day, when the girls were older, their age difference would matter less. Florence would get married and have children, and Fannie would be there to offer advice on the best way to burp a baby or remove a stain from a shirt collar. Maybe, eventually, they would rediscover each other.”

Much of the novel navigates dashed hopes and shifting relationships. Esther’s reflection on her daughters’ missed opportunity to connect with one another encompasses themes of family, grief and loss, and the relationship between parents and children. Assuming Joseph chooses to give Fannie the forged letter from “Florence,” Esther’s wish for her daughters to reconcile will come partially true.

“He nodded toward several long rows of chairs, tucked underneath the second-floor balcony and shrouded by potted ferns, where a number of women and small children perched like goldfinches.”

Joseph remembers when he first taught Florence how to swim; Florence wondered why none of the other women and girls were swimming. The moment highlights the uniqueness of Joseph’s and Florence’s relationship. Symbolically, Joseph’s swimming lessons provide Florence with the independence many women of the era lacked (and which many men were not eager to encourage).

“But then I became a parent, and I had my answer. You give your children every possible chance.”

Joseph comments on his parents’ choices. Parental sacrifice for children and for the next generation is a recurring theme, as every parent in the novel gives up something for their children.

“I think most women make some sacrifices for their own security, or the security of the people they love.”

Women’s sacrifices are a recurring theme that is most explicitly stated during Fannie’s and Anna’s discussion about Tender is the Night. Florence is a foil to the other female characters because she fearlessly pursues her own desires. However, she also dies in the pursuit of those desires, which suggests that compromise may be the more realistic path.

“We’re all beholden to someone.”

The idea of being beholden to someone is a recurring motif. Rachel Beanland explores the thin line between being indebted to someone and being in a community or family with someone.

“By the time Anna received her student visa, she or her parents had passed through the doors of more than twenty-five government agencies.”

The process of securing a visa to the United States from Germany was extremely difficult. This moment describes the challenges of that process and highlights the perseverance of Anna and her family.

“This, she realized was what it felt like to grow old. Eventually people felt so weighed down by the yoke of their own bad decisions that they could scarcely move.”

Age is a recurring motif connected to Esther’s character arc. Grief and responsibility age her and make her feel old in large part because she feels she lacks control; her decisions have not played out as she believed they would, and now her body too seems to be at odds with her.

“Isn’t it typical that a woman’s health condition should be named for a man?”

Sexism and gender inequality are consistent themes throughout the novel. This moment highlights that men even dominate the conversation around women’s health.

“How could a man who had so much always manage to believe he had so little?”

Joseph comments on Isaac, who has a loving family and a stable, well-paying job during the Great Depression. Joseph is stunned that Isaac cannot see the value of what he has. Both Esther and Joseph repeatedly reflect on Isaac’s ingratitude.

“Calling the baby Ruby—and not Florence—would be a kind of penance, a reminder that the child’s life had begun with a lie.”

Ruby’s name is a reminder of the lie on which her life depended. It is a particularly significant moment because the baby should have been named “Florence” according to Jewish culture.