The Woods

“The first, my sister’s, led me to my current job and career trajectory. I can fight that injustice in the courtroom. And I do. I try to make the world safer, try to put those who harm others behind bars, try to bring other families something my family never really had—closure.”

This quotation demonstrates Paul’s central character trait: his dedication to justice. Introducing the theme of The Unresolved Past Haunting the Present, Paul’s reflections here indicate that he doesn’t want others to experience having no resolution or justice, as the lack of closure in Camille’s case has haunted him for his whole life.

“Death is pure, wrecking ball destructive. It hits, you’re crushed, you start to rebuild. But not knowing—that doubt, that glimmer—makes death work more like termites or some sort of relentless germ. It eats away from the inside. You cannot stop the rot. You cannot rebuild because that doubt will just keep gnawing away.”

Death is a motif in the text that illuminates how the characters view their world. Paul finds comfort in death’s finality, but when questions surround a death, as in Camille’s case, Paul struggles to completely move forward with his life. The simile likening unresolved questions about a person’s death to termites weakening a home conveys the eerie sense that a lack of answers could bring the structure of life without that person crashing down.

“It was the best summer of my life. At least it was until that final night. Even now I know I will never know a time like it. Weird, right? But I know. I know that I will never, ever, be that happy again. Not ever. My smile is different now. It is sadder, like it is broken and can’t be fixed.”

This quotation comes from the anonymous journal that Lonnie submits to Lucy for MVD to draw out a guilty reaction about the murders. Lucy is sure that the journal is about her because it accurately describes the sadness she hasn’t been able to shake since that night. Her desire to keep these feelings repressed motivates her to seek out the journal’s author, even if it breaks her ethical code.