Garden Spells

“Claire […] liked being compared to her grandmother. She had no idea about the security of having a name until her mother brought her here, to this house where her grandmother lived.”

This passage shows Claire’s early identification with the Waverley name. Claire feels secure and rooted in the family home, which is important to her. As an adult, Claire’s reluctance to grow, move, or contribute to her conflict and character arc through the book, while speaking to The Influence of Place on Identity.

“Claire was there when someone in town needed a solution to a problem that could be solved only by the flowers grown around that apple tree in the Waverleys’ backyard. She was the first in three generations to openly share that particular gift.”

The opening chapter establishes the peculiarities associated with the Waverley name, which are connected to the apple tree in their backyard. Claire’s sharing of this gift makes her something of a wise woman or benefactor to the town. The comment that she was “the first in three generations” shows how she has already transcended the family name, establishing deeper connections in Bascom.

“Dangerous men had been her specialty, just as she always imagined it had been for her mother—one of the many reasons she left Bascom with nothing but a backpack and a few photos of her mother as a traveling companion.”

This passage suggests that Sydney chose an unrooted life and dangerous men because she thought it might be romantic or poetic to live as her mother had. Sydney’s more tumultuous life contrasts and conflicts with Claire’s steady, rooted one, while the description of dangerous men hints at the conflict Sydney will experience with David. However, the fact that her mother’s photo is her “traveling companion” subtly indicates what a lonely life she is leading.