Wait Till Helen Comes

Like the graveyard, Helen embodies Molly’s worries about death and the afterlife. Molly questions what comes after death, and Helen’s existence partially answers those questions. Molly even speculates that it might be better to be a ghost and have some part of you live on than to become nothing. Helen also represents an external, intangible threat to the family that Molly alone can defeat.

To Heather, Helen offers the affection she seeks. Helen represents unconditional acceptance. Helen knows—and shares—Heather’s guilty secret and accepts Heather’s friendship regardless of her past. She represents both Heather’s guilt and the potential for freedom from guilt and unhappiness. In this sense, characters like Mom, who thinks the ghost is simply a psychological construct, are right: Helen is real within the world of the story, but she symbolizes a way for Heather to deal with her negative emotions.

Helen’s locket stands for the promise Heather and Helen make to be each other’s best friends. Helen even threatens to take back her locket and give it to someone “who will love [her]” when Heather’s resolve falters (153). The silver necklace with its heart-shaped pendant is a tangible representation of Helen and Heather’s connection: their loneliness and shared guilt. The girls share the same initials, H.E.H., and the same secret. The locket, like guilt, is also the source of Helen’s power over Heather. The locket reveals Helen’s desire to control Heather and compel her to be friends. When Molly removes the locket from Heather’s neck, she frees her from Helen’s control.

The locket does not open when Heather first receives it from Helen, but at the end of the novel, when the locket mysteriously returns, it springs open. This suggests that both girls’ secrets are over, both girls are forgiven, and both can find happiness. Heather can remember Helen with real affection, as Helen’s note requests.