Properties of Thirst

Rocky named his estate in reference to Henry David Thoreau, who kept three chairs available for visitors at his Walden Pond cabin, even when he was out wandering in the woods. Rocky likewise keeps three chairs on his porch, each fulfilling a different purpose: “One for meditation. Two for conversation. Three for company” (10). When Lou dies, Stryker blames the symbolism of the chairs, asserting to Rocky that he should have included enough chairs for all family members. Indeed, the book sets up a dynamic of threes: Lou’s death leaves only Rocky, Stryker, and Sunny. As an uneven number, three creates an imbalance and a sense of power dynamics being unevenly distributed. When Cas moves into the estate, she restores this balance, providing a mother figure for Sunny. As Sunny and Stryker grow up, Hace becomes the third to their twosome. Initially a friend of Stryker’s—thus leaving Sunny on the outside—this shifts when Sunny and Hace grow closer, leading Stryker to predict that the two will marry one day. When Stryker leaves, three family members once again reside at the estate—Rocky, Cas, and Sunny.

Throughout much of the novel, Rocky is wary of Schiff, whose presence symbolically disrupts the balance at Three Chairs. When Rocky builds Schiff a custom rocking chair in the style of the others at the estate, the significance isn’t lost on Schiff. This gesture (though Rocky openly admits it’s a sort of bribe) signifies Rocky’s trust of Schiff and his desire to work as a unit toward a mutual goal of protecting the rights of displaced Japanese Americans. A sign that Schiff is accepted as a member of the family, the rocking chair is an item he keeps when he leaves Manzanar. Sunny, too, recognizes the way that rocking chairs are a physical representation of the estate (and thus her parents’ aspirations for it), placing them on the porch of her new restaurant after she moves from Lone Pine.