57 pages • 1 hour read
Carola LoveringBye, Baby
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A 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
Bye, Baby
The novel’s title, “Bye, Baby,” is a recurring motif in the narrative that illustrates The Shifting Dynamics of Friendship. The phrase first appears in the backstory of Billie and Cassie’s childhood friendship. Obsessed with the movie Dirty Dancing as teenagers, Billie and Cassie call each other “Baby” to show their affinity with the film's lead female character. By referring to each other this way, the girls signal the intensity of their friendship. The affectionate nickname and its meaning, known only to them, excludes others from their intimacy, demonstrating they are best friends. Thus, when the girls reconcile after an argument, Cassie’s parting words, “Bye, Baby,” reaffirm their special bond.
As the narrative progresses, the meaning of “Bye, Baby” evolves to reflect the shifting dynamic of Billie and Cassie’s friendship. After abducting Ella, Billie is reminded of the phrase “Bye, Baby” as it echoes the dramatic shift in their relationship. No longer representing intimacy, the motif describes an act of retaliation motivated by Billie’s anger at Cassie’s lack of loyalty. When Cassie turns to Billie for support, unaware that her old friend was the perpetrator of the crime, she reverts to calling her “Baby.” The changing significance of the motif illustrates how toxic Billie and Cassie’s friendship has become.
Red Hook
Although the novel's setting is primarily New York City, the town of Red Hook has symbolic associations throughout the narrative. A small town with agricultural roots, Red Hook is situated in the Hudson Valley, a region north of New York City. The town symbolizes the past for Billie and Cassie and illustrates the theme of Class and Social Mobility.
Both Cassie and Billie describe Red Hook as a “middle-class” town, and Cassie perceives her family’s move there from the affluent Greenwich, Connecticut, when her father loses his inheritance as a symbol of their dramatic decline in social status. Her reluctance to tell McKay she went to school in Red Hook when they first meet indicates the social stigma she associates with her hometown. Cassie’s disinclination to visit her parents and sister, who remain in Red Hook, illustrates her shame at her origins. Her eagerness to leave the town as quickly as possible after a fleeting visit reflects her desire to leave her past behind and reinvent herself. This impulse is intensified by the fact that Red Hook is also the scene of a crime that was motivated by her distaste for her hometown. Incensed by Wade’s assertion that she would never escape, Cassie killed Wade in a moment of overwhelming rage.
Billie’s attitude toward Red Hook highlights her differing values and feelings about the past. With no aspirations to climb the ladder of social status, Billie is unashamed of her roots. She also has more nuanced emotions about the past that Red Hook represents. Her hometown is the site of trauma for Billie, as it is associated with her sexual abuse and her mother’s cognitive decline. Nevertheless, Red Hook is also a reminder of a formerly close relationship with her mother and her cherished childhood friendship with Cassie.
Planes
The motif of planes is used throughout Bye, Baby to represent themes of identity and The Shifting Dynamics of Friendship. Billie’s first air travel experience is on the flight to Paris with Cassie and Grandma Catherine. Later in life, Billie asserts, “I feel more alive on a plane than anywhere else” (41). The Paris trip ignites a love of the freedom of travel that becomes an integral part of Billie’s identity and shapes her career.
Lovering again employs plane imagery after Ella’s kidnapping. Cassie compares the traumatic experience and its aftermath to confronting one’s inevitable death during an aircraft disaster, observing:
It’s how I imagine it would feel to be on a plane that’s on its way down, seconds from nose-diving into the earth. The clarity of perspective as the rest of the world evaporates into thin, meaningless dust. What matters is distilled (206).
Cassie’s description of this moment of near-death lucidity conveys the impact of Ella’s disappearance on her sense of identity. Suddenly, she reassesses her values and lifestyle, perceiving former priorities as facile.
Toward the novel's end, the connection between planes and the protagonists’ friendship is re-established in the planned trip to St. Barts. Billie’s invitation to accompany Cassie and Grant on a private plane to their vacation house symbolizes their renewed intimacy. Like the Paris expedition, the St. Barts trip represents acceptance into Cassie’s inner circle. In this section of the narrative, Lovering uses plane imagery to underscore the toxic foundations of a friendship built on deceit. Ultimately, Billie is prevented from boarding the plane as her new intimacy with Cassie is built on lies. The termination of their friendship is symbolized as Billie watches the plane fly away.
