56 pages • 1-hour read
We Live Here Now
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
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, addiction, mental illness, animal death, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, and death.
Larkin Lodge
Larkin Lodge fulfills the familiar Gothic trope of the haunted house. Isolating and oppressive, it establishes the ominous mood of the narrative. Through personification, Pinborough presents the house as an active, malevolent character rather than just a backdrop to events. Emily’s description of Larkin Lodge “loom[ing] into view, alone on its hilltop, patiently waiting for our return” evokes the idea of their new home as a lurking individual who intends to cause them harm (127).
As the Lodge’s dark history is revealed, the house becomes a symbol of human suffering. The building seems to derive its power and energy from the tragedies that have taken place there, from the burial of those who have died by suicide to the series of murders that have occurred within its walls. The Lodge also represents the darker side of human nature, attracting “couples with secrets” and aggravating their already antagonistic relationships (269). Emily observes how the house “bring[s] out the worst in us” as the Bennetts’ resentment of each other is amplified by their new environment (225). Accentuating the characters’ moral failings, Larkin Lodge facilitates the uncovering of Emily and Freddie’s guilty secrets and betrayals. For example, when Emily is driven outside by supernatural phenomena, she finds the post box containing evidence of her husband’s gambling debts.
Larkin Lodge’s eerie powers underscore the novel’s central themes. The house’s ability to escalate marital conflict illustrates The Dark Undercurrents of Intimate Relationships as Freddie’s irritation with Emily increasingly turns to thoughts of murder. Meanwhile, the primary suite’s capacity to separate a person’s negative traits from their better qualities exposes The Duality of Human Nature. The entrapment of the “dark” halves of its residents on the house’s upper floor literalizes the idea that while people may suppress their worst qualities, those traits remain alive, festering, and waiting to reemerge. Larkin Lodge becomes a metaphor for the human psyche, a place where flaws are hidden away but never destroyed.
By the novel’s conclusion, Larkin Lodge has evolved into a symbol of inevitability and fate, as Emily and Freddie repeat the cycle of violence and reincarnation enacted by their predecessors. While the protagonists’ “best” selves move away, their other halves remain trapped in the house, bickering eternally. The house is presented as a self-sustaining system, ensuring that trauma repeats across generations.
The Raven
From the outset of the novel, the Raven evokes the Gothic tradition. Its presence evokes a sense of menace due to the traditional association of carrion birds with death and mortality. More specifically, the bird recalls Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven,” with its associations of doom and loss, encapsulated in the refrain of “Nevermore.” The raven’s repeated response in Poe’s poem drives the speaker to despair and madness, as he mourns the loss of his love, Lenore.
Pinborough complicates the Raven’s macabre symbolism by tying him not only to foreboding but also to domestic partnership and the dark undercurrents of intimate relationships. Emily’s observation that “[she] read somewhere that corvids are capable of love. And vengeance” highlights how the Raven’s experiences serve as a parallel to the main story (16). The Raven’s narrative centers on his mate, Broken Wing, whose injury leads to her entrapment and death in Larkin Lodge. Broken Wing’s physical impairment echoes the lingering effects of Emily’s accident, which leave her feeling similarly broken.
The Raven’s refusal to leave Broken Wing suggests the long-term commitment of marriage. However, his apparent loyalty is undercut by the wish that her carcass “would crumble to nothing,” so that he can “fly far, far away from this place. To start again” (194). The Raven’s feelings about his dead mate echo Freddie’s fantasies about killing Emily to be free of his gambling debts. The bird’s arc aligns with Freddie’s when both are delighted by the reincarnation of their dead partner with their faults removed. The Raven’s happiness when Broken Wing’s “mean streak” disappears underscores how partners often desire intimacy stripped of conflict, yet such intimacy is an illusion, purchased at the price of repression.
The Raven ultimately becomes a symbol of selective love, mirroring the protagonists’ renewed commitment to sanitized versions of their spouses. His cry of “Forevermore,” an inversion of Poe’s “Nevermore,” underscores the notion of endless repetition. Just as he remains bound to Broken Wing, the human couples remain tethered to one another and to the Lodge, unable to escape their destructive patterns.
Books, Journals, and Documents
Throughout the novel, the characters encounter or use a variety of significant written records, and the motif represents recorded memory, hidden knowledge, and the persistence of truth. The written word articulates secrets that cannot be otherwise expressed, often providing clarity and insight. However, books and documents also represent a form of entrapment, further enmeshing the characters in a cycle of domestic violence.
Christopher Hopper’s journal is the novel’s most explicit use of the motif. The book recounting his experiments at Larkin Lodge and his planned murder of his wife offers the key to Larkin Lodge’s mysterious powers. Emily’s discovery of the journal gives her the power of knowledge and agency, but it also becomes a vessel for The Legacy of Trauma and the Past, ensuring that she repeats the cycle of murder and reincarnation.
Emily’s notebook echoes Hopper’s journal, recording her experiences at Larkin Lodge and her secret fear that she is losing her grip on reality. The notebook is a crucial form of expression for Emily, helping her process her chaotic experiences and record her truth. However, Freddie uses his wife’s words as a weapon against her, photographing selected extracts as evidence to support his false claim that she is suicidal.
Books become a source of threat to Emily when she finds the library shelves ransacked, leaving four books spelling out “YOU WILL DIE HERE” (97). For the frustrated half of Sally that remains trapped in Larkin Lodge, the books are one of the few resources she can use to communicate. The message she creates is both a warning and a prophecy, ultimately foreshadowing the eventual murder of Emily and Freddie by each other.
Across the novel, documents carry the weight of facts that cannot be erased. As the characters attempt to deny or rewrite their pasts, the written word undermines them by preserving inconvenient evidence. Emily’s old emails to her boss resurface as textual records of their affair, revealing the truth to Freddie. Letters play a similar role in betraying Freddie’s transgressions as demands from his creditors expose his gambling debts, and Sally’s letter informs Emily that her husband has murdered her. These documents highlight the protagonists’ deceit and the tension between suppression and disclosure that characterizes their relationship.
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