43 pages • 1 hour read
Louise PennyStill Life
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005A 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
Hunting
When Jane’s body is found wounded by an arrow in an area frequented by hunters, it’s assumed that she died in a hunting accident. Even when later discoveries call that assumption into question, hunting provides a thematic and symbolic comparison to the act of murder. While waiting for Jane to arrive in Chapter 1, Clara reflects on the typical actions and attitudes of those who come to hunt in Three Pines, including their pride and their occasional inability to “distinguish a pine from a partridge from a person” (3). Later, as part of the investigation, Gamache goes to great lengths to learn about the materials and tactics of bow hunting, even as he becomes “Master of the Hunt” in a different sense (35). When she later discovers a blind, or treehouse used for hunting, in the woods, Clara reflects on the blindness of some hunters, who fail to see “cruelty” in their acts and “beauty” in their victims. It is in this symbolic sense that Ben, a skilled marksman, fits the profile of a hunter.
Home
Gamache considers homes as reflections of those who inhabit them. Yolande’s neat but faceless home indicates her obsession with projecting and protecting a certain image at the cost of her individuality. Clara and Peter’s home, right next to Jane’s, is described as an example of the Loyalist architectural style, a possible pun referencing their tenacity as friends, and they go on to host a variety of social engagements. Ruth’s house, by contrast, is “tiny and cramped” (235), poorly suited to guests, befitting Ruth’s abrasive manner. Jane’s home becomes the site of a struggle between shame and authenticity, first internally, before Jane’s death, and then publicly, as Yolande’s attempts to conceal Jane’s art.
Two characters explicitly refer to home in a symbolic sense. Gamache compares life to a walk through a long house, dogged by voices from the past. Clara’s artwork of the rock/egg in a box carries with it her view of “Home as an allegory for self” (311). Penny’s exploration of home reveals that Jane’s drawing on the walls of her home is just the most explicit example of a common human capacity to shape surroundings, for better or for worse.
Weather
Penny takes care to describe the weather in Three Pines, as well as its impact on the residents and Gamache’s investigation. Early October, when the novel opens, is described as the “perfect time” to visit Three Pines. From the day he sets foot in the village, Gamache notices the villagers’ tendency to discuss the weather, parroting weather reports. When Peter adds the disclaimer that televised weather reports are often wrong about Three Pines, which has a “microclimate,” his comments emphasize the town’s remoteness, uniqueness, and exposure to the elements, removed as it is from larger currents, both literal and figurative. When Gamache finds himself passing along weather forecasts to Beauvoir, he muses that “the villagers were getting into his head” (107), showing just how quickly he assimilated himself into their lifestyle and conversations. At one point, when Clara approaches Gamache with important news, he jokes, “I hope it’s not a weather forecast” (154).
Beyond providing conversational fodder for the tightknit, small-town community, the weather also precipitates or reflects significant plot developments. The Crofts’ arrow remains hidden until leaves fall from the trees. A hurricane-strength storm strikes just as Clara recognizes Ben as the murderer, then confronts him. Snow begins to fall during the novel’s closing scene, showing that, just as the seasons change, a new chapter begins in Three Pines.
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By Louise Penny
