45 pages • 1 hour read
Lindsay CurrieThe Mystery of Locked Rooms
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | BCEA 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
The Rule of Threes
The Rule of Three is a principle that exists in many fields, but in narrative construction, it states that patterns in groups of three are the most satisfying and, as Sarah puts it, “memorable.” Throughout the novel, elements are repeatedly introduced as parts of a set of three. Sarah explains to West and Hannah, “Basically, the idea is that things are more memorable if it’s in a group of three” (62). The funhouse is full of elements that work in sets of three. The symbolism of the wishbone, the deck of cards, and the compass is one of the most salient examples. The Deltas also realize that most rooms offer three different exits or three solutions to a riddle, allowing them to look for alternatives when they are stuck. Triangles are also a recurrent visual signal of the rule of threes in the house, with triangular windows, mirrors, and drawings appearing in nearly every room the characters explore.
The most significant example of the rule of threes, however, is the characters themselves. There are three friends, Sarah, West, and Hannah, who call themselves the Deltas because of their common love of math, and three Stein brothers, who are triplets. Sarah herself realizes the significance of this symbolism:
I realize that the locks, doors, mirrors, and flags aren’t the only things following the rule of threes. We are too. The Deltas. […] I know the triplets probably didn’t care who found their treasure, but part of me is excited at the thought that this could be the best clue we’ve found so far. Maybe, just maybe, this funhouse has been waiting…for us (62).
The connection between these two groups of three characters underlines the Parallels Between the Past and the Present as Sarah, Hannah, and West come to embody the triplets’ legacy.
The Wishbone, the Deck of Cards, and the Compass
Three particular symbols recur throughout the Stein brothers’ funhouse: a wishbone, a deck of cards, and a compass. Each symbol draws upon specific elements of the funhouse to indicate the nature of potential clues. The wishbone is introduced first, when the Deltas notice it painted upon a hidden entrance into the building. They later realize that it represents chance, and it appears crucially in the mirror room where Sarah confronts her fear of unpredictability. At the end of the story, however, she adopts the wishbone as her symbol of luck to illustrate her character growth:
I twist the wishbone charm dangling from my necklace and smile. Luck wasn’t something I ever believed in before—before the yellow slip of paper, the funhouse, and the treasure. Now I get it. Life throws curveballs sometimes. We can’t always plan, can’t always predict. But maybe, just maybe, with hard work and a little luck, we’ll be okay (241).
The Deltas also learn that the deck of cards symbolizes strategy, as when it appears in the Box Room and prompts them to figure out a logical way to retrieve the key by dropping the correct box from the ceiling. Sarah figures out it by drawing a connection with her own life: “Before my dad got sick, he used to have buddies over once a month to play cards. Blackjack. There’s a ton of strategy in that game!” (90). Finally, West explains that the compass “stands for something with directions or navigating [and helps] with routes or secret passages” (86), and they use it to escape the Library Room by using clues based on the cardinal directions. In addition to playing into the Rule of Threes, the triplets use those symbols to guide the Deltas through their funhouse. This can be viewed as a form of direct communication between the two sets of characters and thus reinforces the Parallels Between the Past and the Present.
The Funhouse
Sarah first describes the Stein triplets’ funhouse as an intriguing and colorful building: “The building is brick, two stories, and has windows of different shapes and sizes set into its face. Square windows, oval windows, and even a triangular window right in the center” (16). She notices that it’s not just the construction of the house that is unusual, but also the way it has been decorated, with “[b]right green across the top half and an ocean-like blue on the bottom. […] A bright yellow circle sits in the lower right. […] Everything is upside down! The green at the top is grass, the blue at the bottom is sky, and the brown lines on either side are trees” (16-17). The topsy-turvy nature of the exterior of the house offers the friends a clue as to what waits within.
Although the concept of a funhouse is less relevant to contemporary young audiences, the narrative makes it more relatable when Sarah describes it as “an escape room before there were escape rooms” (16). The funhouse is the main setting of the novel and provides a thrilling backdrop for the Deltas’ quest, offering more and more complex obstacles for the friends to overcome. The funhouse also allows each character to grow as a result of the obstacles they face, and is an important element of the characters’ Emotional Growth Through Challenges, since the characters eventually gain both material treasure and emotional breakthroughs. At the end of the book, the funhouse regains its former glory just like Sarah and her family regain their happiness. In other words, the funhouse provides symbolic escape once Sarah stops fearing it and instead embraces its complex, unpredictable nature—and, by extension, confronts her emotional struggles in the same way.
