64 pages • 2 hours read
Susan MeissnerThe Nature of Fragile Things
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A 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 Polk Street House
The three-story San Francisco house that Sophie, Kat, and Martin move into in March 1905 represents the promise of a new family and stability for dispossessed Sophie, who has not lived in a comfortable home since Donaghadee. The house also becomes a symbol of Sophie and Martin’s ambitious makeshift marriage. Located on affluent Polk Street, the house is a deep blue and ivory color with smart black ironwork, which lends it and its inhabitants the aura of respectability (29). Moreover, the house’s fully-furnished state equips Martin and Sophie, two imposters to family life, with all the accoutrements of familial existence. The house’s readymade aligns with the readymade nature of the family that Sophie has joined, spinning the illusion that everything is established, when in truth their familial bonds are tenuous.
Sophie, who previously lived in a New York boarding house, is thrilled with the home, if a little disoriented by it. She has no idea “how much a house such as this one costs” and suspects that Martin accrued debt to finance it (30). Meanwhile, despite his investment in the house, Martin’s lack of attachment to the place corresponds to his lack of attachment to Sophie, the wife he also went to great lengths to procure. Instead, the house is a launchpad for his personal advancement as a con artist, as he uses it to store samples of gold and his collection of birth and death certificates.
Sophie’s feeling that the house was “more beautiful than anyplace I could ever have hoped to call home,” is wishful, and her integration into the home and neighborhood remains fanciful (30). Merely going through the motions of a middle-class existence does not convince people that she belongs there, especially when her neighbor Libby learns that Sophie performs the role of maid as well as wife and mother. Still, Sophie’s attachment to the illusion of a new family continues, as she makes the house a restorative space for Kat and her. She ignores the room that Martin has forbidden her from going into, which contains the documents that prove the falseness of her hopes. Only when Belinda appears on her doorstep does Sophie truly take possession of the house and explore its forbidden spaces. As she accepts that she must leave the house along with its illusions, she is keen to see it buried following the earthquake. While it stands, the house becomes a shameful space that incriminates her and Kat by its mere presence.
Da’s Word Book
Sophie’s father’s word book contains the long, sophisticated words collected by a man who aspired to be a university professor. When Sophie runs away from Ireland, she takes the book as a memory of her father, and it becomes a symbol of her continuing his academic aspirations. While financial need dictated that Sophie’s father had to follow the family tradition and become a roofer, the word book shows his commitment to continuous learning and hope. From the outset of the novel, Meissner presents it as a hopeful object—the first word readers encounter is “jubilant” (7). Sophie chooses this word on the boat to San Francisco when she is about to meet Martin and Kat for the first time. She rejoices in her father’s definition of it: “you feel as though you finally possess everything you’ve always wanted, you are that happy” (7).
In the early months of her life with Kat, the book remains a reminder of who Sophie is and the real love and encouragement she received from her family of origin. It thus symbolizes resilience, in addition to aspiration. By incorporating Kat into the tradition of the word book, Sophie treats her as a real daughter and continues her father’s legacy. All three of them are bound in a tradition of loving to learn. Sophie’s belief in this is shown when she rescues the book from the earthquake and takes it with them on their journey. Although Sophie’s new family is made tenuous by Candace’s continued existence, the word book represents the hope that they may remain connected. Indeed, she only sacrifices the book for the sake of family, tearing out a page and writing a notice at the refugee camp to reunite with Belinda and Sarah. The sacrifice of this precious object indicates Sophie’s prioritization of present familial ties over past ones, even as she continues the spirit of love her parents passed down to her.
Silence
Silence, and especially the silencing of women, is a crucial motif in the novel. Exploitative Martin uses various methods of silencing the women who might interfere with his plans. He orchestrates a fatal accident for his first wife Annabeth so he can claim her fortune unchallenged. Later, he silences his second affluent wife by pretending that she is dead. The trauma of Candace’s alleged death, in addition to Martin’s use of “his coldness and his lies,” keeps his young daughter Kat conveniently silent, as she becomes “too despondent and heartbroken to speak” (246). Her silence causes both adults and children to become wary of her, and her headmistress warns that she would be better off being homeschooled. Perceptive Kat has likely witnessed Martin’s suspicious behavior, and cutting her off from the world suits him and his underhand plans. However, while Kat’s silence becomes her dominant characteristic, she is not inexpressive. She demonstrates her feelings through her actions and gestures. For example, Kat communicates to Sophie that she loves her by seeking to be physically close to her, and she gives Martin a decisive push down the stairs when he threatens the life of the newborn half-sister she already loves. While Sophie’s love encourages Kat to use her voice, she is already a decisive character via her actions. Interestingly, Kat’s silence resumes in Tucson when she senses that she may have to choose between her biological and adopted mother, becoming “bewildered and afraid” at the prospect of separating from either (246). Her refusal to say goodbye to dying Candace, followed by Candace’s equally silent response, non-verbally communicates that mother and daughter seek to maintain their relationship beyond the grave.
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