51 pages • 1-hour read
One Summer in Savannah: A Novel
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Symbols & Motifs
Time
There are many multi-faceted references to time in the novel. Jacob’s profession as an astrophysicist, Alana’s “lost time” notebooks, and Alana’s broken watches are all concrete representations of time. The time motif illustrates the chief conflict in the novel for both Jacob and Sara: how to accept the past and move forward to have a healthy future. Thus, the motif contributes to The Complex Nature of Forgiveness.
The conversation at the first pizza night that Jacob attends underscores the time motif—a dilemma is posed between being able to freeze time for 10 seconds or being able to change one thing in a given day. Jacob and Hosea both choose to freeze time, and that metaphorical possibility recurs in both Jacob’s and Sara’s sections. The potential of freezing time connects to Alana’s and Jacob’s struggles with watches. Jacob fixing Alana’s watch and explaining how he found watches that don’t break is symbolic of Jacob giving Alana time to grow up and time to understand her similarities with his side of the family before having to face the truth about her father. Further, the impending deaths of both Hosea and Daniel create a time pressure for all the actions in the novel; the ambiguity of when those deaths will occur creates a sense of stopped time, like the watches and the thought experiment.
Aurora Borealis
Jacob’s primary goal in his professional research is to discover more about the aurora borealis. The celestial phenomenon is a symbol for his search for love and acceptance. As Daniel tells him early in the novel: “You used to talk about the aurora borealis as if she were a woman. Your Aurora. Her beauty, her colors, her lines and curves, her seduction and allure. And now you speak about her technically and matter-of-factly, as if she didn’t have a purpose in the universe” (63). Jacob buried himself in his work to avoid confronting his emotions about The Impact of Sexual Violence, especially his anger and disgust at his brother and mother. He projected a desire for beauty and profundity into science and astronomy. When he falls in love with Sara, Daniel tells him that he’s found his “Aurora,” the real woman who embodies everything he looked for in the sky. Jacob’s acceptance and understanding of his emotions and their connection to the people in his life lead to a discovery of beauty in his relationships and within himself.
Poetry
Hosea speaks only in poetry quotes, and Sara is a writer and teacher of poetry. Jacob and Hosea bond through Hosea’s work with Jacob on understanding and accepting poetry. The poetry motif underscores the primary difference between Sara and Jacob and between their families. Jacob comes from a scientific family that values logic and reason above emotion. The side effect of that strict adherence to intellect above all else led to the family’s disconnectedness, which left them ill-equipped to cope with grief. When Jacob returns to Savannah, he finds Hosea, poetry, and Sara. Jacob’s willingness to read, understand, and fall in love with poetry mirrors his willingness to understand Sara and her family and his growing love for her.
Hosea’s use of poetry as his only verbal communication requires that those around him listen closely and interpret the poetry to connect the words to the situation. That close adherence to interpretation requires those he loves not just to understand him and poetry but also to look beyond the obvious in a given situation—they must slow down and look more deeply. Although the poems lead to a deeper understanding, Sara expresses to Jacob that the side effect is that she has never heard her father say simply that he loves her. The poetry separates just as fully as it connects; this allows Sara to understand Jacob’s strained relationship with his mother, who speaks in logic just as Hosea speaks in poetry.
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