Taming 7

Drowning, both physical and emotional, is a key motif throughout Taming 7. For Gibsie, drowning represents The Lasting Impact of Trauma: It exemplifies both what happened to his family when he was a child and the effect it continues to have on him years later. The memory of his father and sister’s drowning haunts Gibsie, as he repeatedly wakes up with nightmares about the event. After Lizzie angrily tells him that he should have died instead of his sister, he thinks of how right she is, as he “made the biggest mistake of [his] life and, in turn, caused the death of not only [his] baby sister, but [his] father, too” (176).

Gibsie holds onto this residual guilt for the next 10 years, feeling that he is beginning to “drown” in his own life. His memories, coupled with his sexual abuse at the hands of Mark, slowly destroy Gibsie’s life. He struggles to sleep, fails to create a true emotional relationship with Claire, and hides the truth of what happened from everyone. Instead of being able to truly face his trauma, he drowns in his grief, regret, and struggle to hide what happened to him.

Claire’s efforts to help Gibsie learn how to swim metaphorically convey her efforts to help Gibsie both physically and emotionally.