The House at Riverton

“The Game” is a crucial childhood motif that symbolizes lost innocence and coming of age in a changing world. The Hartford children move from childhood to adulthood at the time of World War I, when widescale warfare fractured the established social patterns of a previous era. The importance of “The Game” to the children and its subsequent loss symbolizes this watershed. 

“The Game” helps to establish an exclusive, triangular dynamic that defines the Hartford children’s relationship. Hannah in particular is protective of it, becoming jealous in Chapter 7 when David brings Robbie home and its secrecy is threatened. As the most significant of the rules is that “only three may play. No more, no less,” the essential geometry of their relationship is triangular (48). When David brings the sophisticated Robbie into their circle, he breaks into this triad, destabilizing the loyalties that have governed the siblings’ lives and forcing their private, childlike world to collide with the outside forces of adult life, including sexual attraction. This dynamic foreshadows the dangers of the later love triangle between Hannah, Robbie, and Emmeline and highlights Sibling Loyalty Versus Romantic Love. The tragic events at the lake are the final, devastating play-out of “The Game” in the adult world.