55 pages • 1-hour read
Pictures of You
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Symbols & Motifs
Regency Romance
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of emotional abuse, suicidal ideation, and death.
Evie’s fascination with Regency romances is introduced immediately in Chapter 1, as she looks for the framed poster of Pride and Prejudice in her bedroom. She’s smitten with the 1995 BBC production starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, an adaptation that has gone on to enjoy the status of a romantic classic, not least due to Helen Fielding’s bestselling Bridget Jones Diary (1996), in which protagonist Bridget Jones, like Evie, has a long-standing crush on Firth’s Mr. Darcy. Evie’s obsession is meant to signal a kind of innocent longing for the subtle forms of romantic and sexual yearning created in the film and other literary adaptations of Austen’s novel. Her references to Pride and Prejudice and to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights show how Evie is slightly out of step with her peers, who demonstrate more sexual sophistication and more contemporary tastes than she does at 16.
Her interest in early-19th-century marriage plots symbolizes her vulnerability to Oliver, who wins her over through chivalric gestures intended to emulate the male heroes of these novels. This manipulation is in stark contrast to Drew’s sincerity when he agrees to dress in Regency attire for the formal to make Evie happy. This concession confirms that Evie can be herself with Drew, whereas she feels she is constantly pruning and adapting herself to appeal to Oliver.
Evie’s interest in the romantic heroes of these classic novels later indicates to the reader how her feelings toward Drew have changed. Where she initially saw him as more like Heathcliff, brooding and possibly dangerous, he later appears as Darcy, nobly exerting himself to help the woman he loves. The parallel confirms that she ends up with the right man for her—the real hero of her romance—while also suggesting that Evie continues to be in touch with her original, authentic, pre-Oliver self.
Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is the name for the emission of light from an organism; common examples are the light emitted by fireflies or glowworms. Bioluminescent marine species include some fish, jellyfish, and bacteria. The bioluminescence is created by dinoflagellates, tiny organisms that produce a chemical that emits a blueish-green light, visible at night and particularly when the water is disturbed. The phenomenon can be observed in several places around the world, but some of the best-known are Mosquito Bay in Puerto Rico, Luminous Lagoon in Jamaica, the Matsu Islands in Taiwan, and Jervis Bay in Australia’s New South Wales. During peak periods over the spring and summer, the lights in Jervis Bay can be visible for several nights in a row.
In Pictures of You, the phenomenon of bioluminescence symbolizes, first, the beauty of the world that Drew and Evie, as fellow photographers, are both attuned to. Their first expedition to Jervis Bay offers a moment of connection and joy that cements their friendship. The abrupt ending to that first experience, caused by news of Drew’s mother’s illness, foreshadows the early break to their friendship under the strain of competing obligations, Drew’s to his mother and Evie’s to Oliver.
Her appreciation for the bioluminescence comes to signify Evie’s capacity for joy and wonder, something she lost under the controlling influence of Oliver. Oliver’s inability to appreciate this beautiful phenomenon—he refuses even to get out of the car to see it—demonstrates that he is the wrong partner for Evie. By contrast, when Drew wakes her up in the present-day timeline to drive to the beach before sunrise so they can experience the bioluminescence together, this confirms that he is the appropriate partner for her. Evie’s open embrace of the water, when she charges straight into the waves and brings Drew with her, shows that she is ready to embrace her life in full again, and Drew along with it.
The Pictures of You Exhibits
As well as providing the title of the book, hinting at the various Evies the novel will examine, the photography exhibit called Pictures of You becomes a motif that tracks Evie’s character trajectory. Evie’s first suggested theme for the exhibit is Girls—a show dedicated to realistic depictions of girls, intended to combat their frequent objectification the wider culture. This suggestion demonstrates Evie’s wish to resist the manipulation and exploitation of women’s images by others—especially for sexual enjoyment, as happened to Bree. Evie wants the girls in the exhibition to be seen as individual and unique personalities, without the pressure to conform to someone else’s expectations. This youthful wish proves ironic when Evie, after falling for Oliver, begins curating her own image to please him.
In contrast to Oliver’s influence, Drew appreciates Evie for who she naturally is, and he loves her joy for life. He captures this particularly in the photograph of their holiday at the beach. Oliver buys the photograph in a power move to show Drew that he can and will come between Drew and Evie, and this effort to control Evie’s image is an extension of his control by other means. Oliver doesn’t even display the photograph in their shared home, showing that he doesn’t appreciate Evie’s personality.
Drew’s later version of his own Pictures of You exhibit serves to reveal his ongoing interest in Evie, which he confesses in the artist’s statement that accompanies his submission. The photographs betray what Evie means to him as well as testifying to her influence on his life. Importantly, his reaching out to her about this exhibit, attempting to engage her permission—in a scene that somewhat rewrites the high school exhibit they collaborated on—becomes a trigger for Evie’s decision to definitively end her marriage to Oliver. Drew has shown her, through his collection, the consequence of her involvement with Oliver and what she’s lost in attempting to live up to Oliver’s image of her. She wants back the woman she is with Drew, and that’s what she reclaims in the triumphant ending. Her question to Drew about continuing to take pictures of her is posed to probe his level of commitment to being with her, and truly seeing her, as they finally embark on a shared future.
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