Son

Secrets emerge throughout the novel as a mechanism by which characters can control their own lives. Within Claire’s original community, “secrecy was forbidden […] and the dream of the hidden newchild caused her to wake with a feeling of guilt and dread” (58). Although at first Claire feels shamed by the secrecy associated with her dream, she eventually learns to embrace secrecy as an act of agency, a kind of internalized power through which Claire can control her own life. Claire finds strength in her ability to keep her thoughts and feelings secret from her community, eventually using this newfound power in order to rebel against the community regulations and escape. Claire finds that this secret actually helps her get through her otherwise uneventful days, giving her the strength to continue on, even though she suffers from the loss of her child.

Secrecy, then, becomes Claire’s defining trait in regard to her emotions, the one thing that she possesses that no one can take away from her. Indeed, secrecy serves to define her actions, as each secret she tells renders her closer and closer to escaping from her community and being reunited with her child. However, in Book 2, Claire finds that her mind has kept secrets from itself, as she must constantly work to remember the aspects of her life that she has forgotten. In this way, secrets can become the mechanism by which we lie to ourselves, preventing individual growth.

Secrets can also prevent characters from knowing one another; this is especially evident in the character of Gabe. Whereas his mother, Claire, gleans power and agency from secrets, Gabe’s secrecy makes him feel incredibly lonely. When Gabe thinks about how he learned about his own powers, he wishes he did not keep his powers secret and had told his friend Matty about them, as well as his desire to find his mother, believing that it is this secrecy which makes him feel so lonely. Gabe feels as though no one understands him, primarily because he has not allowed anyone to understand him; he does not freely express his emotions but rather keeps them contained as his own secret desires. In this way, Gabe separates himself from his community.

Secrets can then also serve as the mechanism by which characters limit their relationships with other people, rendering themselves alone. In this way, the possession of secrets, like many things in life, necessitate a kind of balance: while having secrets gives one a kind of power, it also renders one unknowable and lonely. The individual must then choose for themselves the correct balance of power and loneliness, just as Gabe chooses to eventually share the knowledge of his gift with Kira. Gabe realizes that his secrecy distances him from his community; in order to save his community from the Trademaster, Gabe finds that he no longer needs his secrecy as a power, but can draw his power from the strength of the community itself.

Throughout the novel, names represent an integral aspect of a person’s identity and positionality, especially in relation to their community at-large. In Book 1, very few people are named, mostly because the community leaders attempt to foster anonymity as a means of control. However, this lack of names also alienates Claire, as she does not feel connected to any of her community members. Most importantly, the nameless nurturer refuses to tell Claire what Gabe’s name is, as naming Gabe represents a breach in community regulations. Claire then mistakes Gabe’s name for Abe, demonstrating how estranged she is from her own son. However, once Claire conceptualizes Gabe as being named—even mistakenly—her rebellion has been sealed, and her decision to eventually leave her community has been made. In this way, the act of naming precipitates Claire’s rebellion and corresponds to her desire to have a relationship with her son.

In Book 2, Claire learns of the power associated with names. Alys explains to Claire that naming exists to align someone or something with that person, as evidenced by Alys’s argument that Claire’s bird, which she names Yellow-wing, must have a name: “‘Name it then. It be yours […] Naming is hard. Someone named you once’” (162). Alys suggests that naming exists as an act of possession, indicating that someone or something belonged to someone else, and that that person exerted some measure of control over that thing or individual.

Of course, the nature of possession exists as a relatively new concept to Claire, whose old community did not allow personal possessions and certainly not pets. Claire’s old community also did not allow the kind of personal relationship and attachment to other living beings that naming represents, as names themselves often exist as sources of familiarity. When Claire is about to leave the village in Book 2, she calls Einar by his old name, Fierce Einar, and he in turn calls her Water Claire. In this way, naming indicates the growth of individuals, as the presence of long-ago names indicates that these characters have changed since their original names. There is then a balance between who these characters used to be and who they are now, as well as an implicit indication that their old personalities are different from who they are now.

There is a communal aspect to names as well, as names can give characters strength to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. When Gabe battles the Trademaster, he repeatedly feels the names on the paddle in order to derive the strength he needs to defeat evil. In this way, names are a source of power not solely due to their indication of possession but also because of the strength that can come as a result of feeling included in a community. The names of the two main characters are also important in and of themselves as they denote aspects of the characters’ personalities. Gabe is short for Gabriel, who in the Judeo-Christian religion is the guardian of the chosen people, much in the same way that Gabe exists as the guardian of his community of outcasts. Similarly, Claire’s name means bright and clear, and her goal becomes clearer as the novel progresses, a shining beacon of maternal light amidst the dreariness and tragedy that is life.

Many of the characters in the novel are beset by feelings of loneliness, often as a result of being in some way estranged from their communities. The first character to demonstrate how lonely she feels is Claire, a feeling that in and of itself indicates a kind of rebellion. In Claire’s original community, feelings are illegal, as they detract from the efficiency the community requires. Feelings, especially those of loneliness, also become problematic because they indicate that the person does not feel like they are a part of the community.

Claire sees herself as separate from her community, again fostering her decision to rebel against it. In Book 2, Claire finds solace in the loneliness of other people, especially Einar: “He’s lonely, she thought. People say he’s angry, but it’s his loneliness that afflicts him” (164). Claire recognizes the feelings of loneliness in Einar that other people mistake for anger. She finds commonality with Einar and even love, possibly as a result of this shared emotional connection. When Claire thinks about leaving this community after Andras’s wedding, “she thought sadly of Einar, alone on his hillside hut, and knew that a part of life was passing both of them by” (226). Although Claire and Einar share an emotional connection because they both feel lonely, she knows that they are not destined to attain the same happiness as Andras, for example. She believes that she and Einar will always be alone, forever isolated because of their secrets. The pervasive and ubiquitous nature of loneliness can be felt at every turn of the novel, which exists, in and of itself, as a kind of quest for each character to not be overwhelmed by his or her own loneliness. The characters strive for some sense of community, eventually finding family as a palliative to the overwhelming loneliness of human existence.

Sight represents the most integral of the five senses in the novel. Sight exists as a mechanism by which people can control others, as indicated by the removal of Claire’s ability to see when she has Gabe. This lack of control over one’s sense of sight becomes a trigger for Claire throughout the book, as she associates sightlessness with a lack of agency and loss. As Claire trains for the climb, Einar suggests that she improve her other senses by tying something over her eyes. Claire, however, refuses:“’I can’t have something tied over my eyes. It’s like being on the sea, it’s a fearsome memory”’ (222). Claire suffers from the traumatic stress associated with not being able to see when she was in labor. Even though she has little memory of her previous life, she knows that sightlessness indicates a lack of agency, which itself often results in tragic loss.

Later in the book, Claire uses sight in order to establish a connection to Gabe. Even though Gabe does not know who she is, Claire constantly watches her child:

Gabe would catch sight of her, would see her dark homespun clothing, her stooped posture, and the fierce, knowing intimacy of her gaze. But then she would withdraw and disappear into the shaded grove of trees. If he turned away and then looked back, there was no longer any sign of her (269).

Claire believes that sight indicates a kind of possession, as though she can glean information and establish an emotional connection to Gabe merely by watching him. When Jonas talks about Claire’s love for Gabe, he uses similarly sight-based language: “‘She spent all her time watching over you. She loved you, Gabe’” (356). The author explicitly links sight to love, as though the act of watching someone indicates how deeply the voyeur loves the person. Therefore, sight does not only indicate a power but also an emotional connection between the observer and the observed. However, this connection is often one-sided, as Gabe does not understand why Claire has been watching him. In this way, the author suggests that love cannot be based on sight alone, as it is knowledge of the other person that drives a mutually-beneficial emotional connection between two people.