67 pages • 2-hour read
Greenwich Park
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Symbols & Motifs
Houses
Content Warning: The source text depicts domestic violence, pregnancy loss, rape, and death by suicide, which this section of the guide discusses.
Houses symbolize the home and family and help develop The Illusion of Safety. For most of the text, Helen believes that her own house is safe because it represents her marriage to her architect husband, Daniel, and it used to belong to her beloved parents. Also, it’s in the “safe,” upscale neighborhood of Greenwich Park, a setting in which she never expects to be the target of a crime. The historic house’s features are described in detail to emphasize how comfortable it makes Helen feel. However, beneath the surface of Helen’s grand mansion lies a web of deceit, violence, and crime. This becomes literally true when Serena, Daniel, and Rory dispose of Rachel’s corpse beneath wet concrete in Helen’s cellar. The renovations that Daniel convinces Helen to make are allegedly meant to symbolize improvements to their home and family, but in reality, they symbolize Daniel’s destruction. The renovations never get finished because Daniel started them as a guise to get approved for a remortgage, and he plans to steal the loan money without paying the builders. Instead of improving the house, the half-finished renovations leave the house in shambles, symbolically illustrating the dissolution of Helen and Daniel’s marriage.
In contrast to Helen’s mansion, Charlie’s Hackney apartment is smaller, and Helen claims the roof isn’t safe. Ironically, Charlie’s apartment is much safer than Helen’s house, not simply because of the physical structure, but because of its inhabitants. Charlie and his daughter Ruby pose no dangers to each other, and although they don’t live in a mansion, they have a happy home. Houses in this novel illustrate how surface-level appearances are not always representative of the deeper reality.
Photographs
Photographs symbolize personal identity and help develop The Complexity of Identity. Photographs allegedly capture the likeness of a person, but this is not always the case, as it’s easy to make a person look different in a photograph than they do in real life. Likewise, many characters outwardly behave in ways that contradict their true personalities. Serena is a professional photographer and avid Instagram user. Although photographs capture “real” images, Serena spends huge amounts of time staging and trying to capture the perfect picture, calling into question how “real” her Instagram posts really are. Additionally, Serena’s portrait of Daniel looks so little like him that it takes Helen a while to realize who it is, symbolizing Daniel’s level of deception.
The mysterious photograph of Helen, Daniel, Serena, and Rory from their college play further symbolizes the mysteries of personal identity. Helen had previously ripped this photograph up, but finds it years later, pasted back together. She can tell something is amiss, but she doesn’t know what. The photograph is from the time when Daniel and Serena first began their affair, and the fact that it was pasted back together foreshadows the revelation that their affair is still ongoing, despite Daniel’s claims that it’s been over for a decade. This further illustrates Daniel and Serena’s deception.
Pregnancy Rules
Guidelines surrounding what expectant mothers should or shouldn’t do for the health of an unborn baby appear as a frequent motif in the novel and represent The Illusion of Safety. For example, pregnant women are generally advised to avoid drinking alcohol and consuming tobacco, and some medical guidance suggests avoiding hot tubs/Jacuzzis and avoiding certain foods, such as uncooked fish in sushi or uncured lunch meats. Although other pregnant and allegedly pregnant characters in the novel break these pregnancy rules, Helen believes that if she follows them, she’ll guarantee her child’s safety. This is only partially true. If she drinks alcohol, smokes, or breaks other pregnancy rules, her child may face an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and fetal anomalies. However, following pregnancy rules to a “T” does not eliminate other risks, such as genetic anomalies. More specifically, Helen cannot eliminate the risks that other people—such as Daniel and Serena—pose to her unborn baby. Furthermore, although Serena breaks several pregnancy rules by drinking alcohol, traveling during her third trimester, and soaking in Jacuzzis, her baby is born healthy and develops more quickly than Helen’s. The choices and actions of pregnant women in the novel illustrate that safety is a continuum rather than an absolute concept. The narrative illustrates that danger does not always lurk where it’s suspected, and conversely, it often lurks in unexpected places.
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