The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club

“The hearts were kind of corny and the bracelet wasn’t really my mother’s style—or mine, either—but it gave me an odd sort of comfort now.”

Mari’s focus on the bracelet reveals its symbolic importance. The bracelet isn’t something Mari or her mother would wear, but Mari’s mother wore it, and now Mari wears it because it represents continuity. Mari, though she doesn’t know it yet, is a part of the Smith family, so the bracelet comes to represent her connection to the Smiths.

“[E]very day was something new to dread. Hitler’s Nazi storm terrorizing Europe. Gram’s illness. German U-boats downing American ships just off our shores. But none of us saw the big one coming. That we would kill one of our own.”

Briar summarizes the peril that the Smith family faces, though Tom is the only relative directly fighting in the war. Briar combines the dangers of war with problems that aren’t related to the war, like “Gram’s illness,” showing that life has hardships even without war. Briar’s final statement here foreshadows the death of Tyson.

“[Tyson] was interested in more than just football and getting drunk at bonfires. He actually knew almost as much about Joan of Arc as I did.”

Briar reinforces her relationship to Joan of Arc. French authorities didn’t believe Joan’s visions, just as the island authorities dismiss Briar’s U-boat sightings. Briar also provides a red herring or false clue about Tyson, suggesting that Tyson will turn out to be a sympathetic character when in fact he’s a Nazi spy and a pure antagonist.