Throughout the novel, the author uses the third-person omniscient perspective, alternating between Vivian’s private thoughts and Lucy’s in order to provide a more deeply nuanced view of the complex dynamics at work. Even in these early scenes, the distinct setting of Fox Hill also plays a key role in the characters’ development. To Vivian’s eyes, the town is full of “peeling paint” and consists of little more than a “ramshackle market” and a “closed down” seafood shop with a “faded” sign, and it is clear that her perception of the area’s derelict quality makes her devalue Hank’s cabin. Even the pond is “lily-splattered” in her view, and this dismissive phrasing reveals her current immunity to the property’s natural charms. Unimpressed by the rustic, natural beauty of the place, she instinctively condemns the town as dilapidated, inauthentic, and messy. 

This dismissiveness extends to people as well; from Vivian’s perspective, even Lucy “wilts like a week-old bouquet” when she learns of Hank’s death (3), and this simile implies Vivian’s snap judgment of Lucy as weak and simple. By contrast, while Vivian attempts to remain detached and emotionless, Lucy “sinks to the driveway” (7), “[c]rumbling” in front of Vivian, and her “head feels like the swampy sludge at the bottom of the lake” (8). Compared to the “polished” Vivian, Lucy feels slow, disorganized, and unintelligent. Likewise, Lucy’s distinct fondness for Fox Hill contrasts with Vivian’s lack of feeling. For example, Lucy notes that the houses along Loon Road are “still wearing brown paint and avocado-green shutters” (24), and her attention to detail carries a tinge of wistful nostalgia even as her wording personifies the shutters themselves. The shutters “wear” their colors just as familiar people would wear comfortable outfits, and it is clear that Lucy, unlike Vivian, thinks of her surroundings as longtime friends in their own right. 

The lake’s sunsets and loons also become symbolic of Vivian and Lucy’s differences. As they grapple with The Impact of Parental Secrets, they must also come to terms with their respective relationships with Hank over the years. In the cabin, Vivian recalls how much she “dreaded sunset” because it meant alone time with Hank, and “[s]he didn’t want to sit side by side with him in painful silence” (52). Her reflections reveal that the weight of his secrets transferred to her own life, even though she was not privy to the details. Vivian hoped that he might one day tell her the truth about his life, but he never did. As a result, the sunset reminds her of this disappointment and her father’s deception. For Lucy, on the other hand, sunsets represent closeness to Hank and her hope for a more traditional family. She and her father “analyzed sunsets the way other families got caught up in football. They tracked sundown times and weather reports […] and admired the loons” (28). She cherished the time that she spent with him, and she cannot help but draw a philosophical parallel between the loon “family” and herself and Hank, even though he never used the word “family” with her.

As the two half-sisters now reckon with each other’s presence, Hank’s lost hat and the storm that gathers rapidly on the lake both symbolize the growing tension of the women’s early relationship. Even as they argue about which music is most appropriate for Hank’s memorial, they are both painfully aware that the dispute is a proxy for emotions that run much deeper. In fact, almost everything the women do is laden with heavier meaning, and the author includes strategic descriptions of the setting to further emphasize these undercurrents. When Vivian hurts Lucy’s feelings, humiliating her, the “[w]ind rips ominously through the trees fringing the shoreline and whips up white caps of froth. A storm is coming” (68). Just as Vivian figuratively “rips” through Lucy, speaking “incredulously” and driving Lucy’s “frustration” higher, the literal storm matches the women’s stormy emotions. Likewise, when Vivian loses Hank’s hat, Lucy grows even angrier with her half-sister, thinking, “Vivian let something precious slip away with a careless mistake” (71). To Lucy, the lost hat symbolizes the idea that Vivian has taken her proximity to Hank for granted and has failed to care for and maintain that relationship. However, Vivian is surprised by Lucy’s emotional response to the hat’s loss, and although “[t]he storm [passes] as quickly as it came on” (72), the tension between Lucy and Vivian remains palpable, their momentary “peace” tenuous at best.