67 pages • 2-hour read
Taming 7
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape, sexual violence, child abuse, child sexual abuse, death by suicide, self-harm, substance and alcohol use, substance dependency, sexual content, and cursing.
Drowning
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. While she only manages to get him to sit in the bathtub, even this step for Gibsie is a large one, as he has avoided water since his family members died. In this way, Claire helps Gibsie to stop “drowning” and to begin to heal, leaving hope at the novel’s end that he can heal from his trauma.
“I’m Always Okay”
“I’m always okay” is a phrase that repeats throughout the novel, spoken multiple times by Gibsie. It is a motif that reflects The Lasting Impact of Trauma, as each time he says this, he is clearly lying. The phrase first appears as the title of Chapter 25, when Lizzie and Gibsie fight, culminating in Lizzie stating that Gibsie should have died on the boat instead of his sister. When Claire finds Gibsie outside, he is overrun with anxiety and despair, believing that Lizzie was right. Instead of letting Claire in on how he is feeling, he responds angrily that “I am okay […] I’m always okay” (177). Then, the phrase is repeated by Gibsie each time he faces more difficulty in his life: when he regrets being intimate with Claire for the first time, when Mark returns home, and when Claire reveals the secret of his sexual abuse to his schoolmates.
The phrase emphasizes Gibsie’s guilt because it is clearly a lie used to mask his internal trauma. He constantly acts happy, using his humor as a coping mechanism. Just as this hides how he is truly feeling, so does the phrase “I’m always okay” (177), as it implies that he never lets anything affect him. In reality, he is deeply affected by what he goes through, yet chooses to dismiss people with the phrase rather than let them in.
Music
Music is a motif that frequently reflects the mood and feelings within Gibsie and Claire’s relationship. They bond over music, listening to it in the car, in their bedrooms, and when they dance together—something they have done since they were small children. Music is a key part of their relationship, allowing them to get to know each other and express their feelings through it.
When Claire finds Gibsie in his room, angrily painting a smiley face on the ceiling after defying Dee’s sexual abuse for the first time, he is blasting the song “Shiny Happy People” by REM over the stereo. As Gibsie struggles to keep up his façade of happiness to hide his inner turmoil, he plays this song to outwardly convey that he is happy. However, like Gibsie’s use of it, the song itself is ironic, as it was inspired by Chinese propaganda posters after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, by which the government attempted to hide the protests and violence within its borders. Similarly, Gibsie tries to present a happy version of himself to his friends and family to hide his trauma.
In another key moment in the text, Gibsie and Claire dance at the Winter Ball after Claire learns the truth of Mark’s sexual abuse. Instead of running from her feelings, Claire decides to stay with and support Gibsie, dancing with him to “Fade into You” by Mazzy Star. The song expresses the speaker’s desire to “fade into” someone, learning to understand who they truly are while also saving them from their “darkness” within. It thus reflects where Gibsie and Claire are in their relationship. Claire willingly returns to him, believing that “his past was his prison, and [their] love was his getaway car” (395). Just like the speaker in the song, Claire wants to emotionally “fade into” Gibsie, becoming part of him and knowing everything that he is.
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