52 pages • 1-hour read
The Watchers
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Mirrors and Doppelgängers
The concept of mirroring haunts every page of the novel in one form or another, whether the watchers take on the appearance of certain people or whether the captives are forced to consider aspects of doubling in the ever-present two-way mirror that dominates their time in the coop. The mirror takes up an entire, large wall of the coop and relentlessly reflects the prisoners’ appearance every night. When the light of the coop is on, the reflections—“their doppelgängers”—are described as “[standing] guard tirelessly, calling for their attention whenever their thoughts drift[] towards that which watche[s] them from behind the mirror” (65). Behind the mirror itself, the watchers learn to imitate their prisoners, but they remain invisible to the captives. Instead, the humans see their own reflections, which come to represent the hidden horror of the watchers’ scrutiny and efforts to duplicate them. Also, this nonconsensual exposure to a mirror eventually has negative effects on the captives’ self-image, especially when they see how their bodies have been undernourished and harmed.
When the sun rises and the mirror turns to glass, the captives also feel like they have lost some essential part of themselves along with the loss of their reflection. They have adapted to seeing their reflections and miss them when they vanish at dawn. As Mina contemplates,
The significance of [the mirror’s] transparency was ingrained in her psyche. But whenever she looked away, a thin reflection watched her in the periphery of her vision, as though she was haunted by her past self—the one still sitting on the floor of the coop, waiting to be saved (232).
Even after leaving the coop, Mina feels the ghostly presence of her reflection, which comes to represent the ways in which her trauma haunts her. Eventually, Mina and the others witness the doppelgängers pretending to be humans, and this phenomenon builds on the trauma of their mirrored captivity. Daniel eventually dies because he believes a doppelgänger to be John. In this scenario, doubling has deadly consequences, and this horror-based imagery persists throughout the novel. For example, Madeline briefly imitates Mina near the end of the narrative, and Mina realizes that she is “talking to a mirror image of herself, but her copycat d[oes]n’t speak as she d[oes]” (290). Struck by the uncanny imperfections in Madeline’s imitation of her form, Mina is once again caught up in the disorienting effect of beholding her own reflection—or a sinister interpretation of it.
Birds and Pets
The plot of the novel is set in motion when Mina goes into the forest to deliver a gold conure, a variety of parrot, in a birdcage. The bird therefore becomes a symbol of her own captivity, for Mina soon finds herself caged as well. The parrot is referred to as the “yellow one” and the “golden one” but is never given a name (172, 235). Its chirping initially alerts Madeline to Mina’s presence in the forest, prompting her to offer Mina shelter in the coop. Mina realizes that “[w]ithout the [bird] she would never have made it” (172). Therefore, as she and the parrot both languish in their respective cages, Mina remains determined to take good care of it and resolves not to leave it behind because it helped her avoid the watchers.
Mina also protects the bird from Madeline’s pragmatic suggestion that they eat it. Mina’s treatment of the parrot can be contrasted with how the watchers treat their own “pets”: their human prisoners in the cage of the coop. The captives’ name for their dubious shelter also indicates that they are “cooped” up just like chickens, left to the clutches of unkind captors. While most humans cannot conceive of being pets to a more powerful species, Mina, Ciara, and Daniel’s experience forces them to think of themselves in these terms.
Darkness and Light
The Watchers also explores the horror associated with both darkness and light. The dark allows the nocturnal watchers to move freely throughout the forest and therefore symbolizes the humans’ terror that these changelings will attack them. However, while the author’s treatment of darkness is fairly conventional and straightforward, the significance of light shifts dramatically throughout the narrative. The light of the coop is part of the torture that Mina and the others endure. The electric bulb stays on the entire night, physically harming the prisoners’ eyes and throwing off their circadian rhythms. The light of the coop therefore symbolizes their ever-present visibility to their unseen captors. However, during their escape from the forest of Connemara, light regains its more conventional association with freedom. As they see the sun rise while they float in Kilmartin’s boat on the river, they realize that they are out of reach of the nocturnal watchers. (However, they are not out of reach of the watchers who can endure sunlight.)
As night falls over Ciara’s house in Galway, Madeline approaches in the darkness, and Mina has a “horrible realization [that] dawn[s] on her in the darkness—they [a]ren’t safe. Madeline [i]s out there, somewhere. A watcher ha[s] followed them home” (278). Thus, the darkness of Galway, like the darkness in Connemara, stands as a symbol of horror and unknown menace. Finally, at the very end of the novel, Shine reverses the symbolism yet again; as Madeline warns Mina that there are more watchers that can walk around in daylight, the protagonist realizes that light is no guarantee of safety.
Compass
The symbolism of the compass changes depending on the character it is associated with. In the Prologue, the compass represents John’s explorations of the forest around the coop. He “ha[s] drawn a compass in the earth” (2), searching for the most promising route of escape. This can be compared with Mina’s later endeavor of drawing a map of the burrows that surround the coop. Their figurative compasses represent the constant search for freedom.
However, the symbolism of the compass becomes negative in connection with Daniel. After stealing Madeline’s keys, he runs through the forest like “a compass spinning in dizzying circles” (109). Unlike the methodical searching that the compass symbolizes for John and Mina, the figurative compass now comes to symbolize being out of control and moving too fast.
The third compass is a literal one and is associated with Madeline. Professor Kilmartin left it in the hidden room under the coop to help them find the boat that he hid as an escape route. When Madeline takes the compass, she “pace[s] around in a circle, making sure it [is] functioning correctly” (182). She needs a literal compass that functions properly, unlike the figuratively broken compass associated with Daniel. The compass also symbolizes her control over the escape mission; she sets the rules, and the others have to follow them.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events