58 pages • 1 hour read
Sally HepworthThe Soulmate: A Novel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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
Gabe Is Me
Although Pippa only says, “Gabe is me” (233), once in the novel, this attitude is a motif that illustrates her perspective on their relationship for most of the novel. This motif traces Pippa’s character arc as she works to establish her own identity as separate from Gabe’s.
In the early chapters of the novel, Pippa is unable to see herself as separate and distinct from her identity as Gabe’s wife or even from Gabe himself. Pippa’s identity is intertwined with Gabe’s—she sees Gabe as “a hero,” and she says of herself, “I am a helper” (2). She sees her primary purpose as supporting him, although over the course of the novel, it becomes clear to her that she is actually the one who holds the family together. This is something that her family has recognized from the start; when Pippa comments that she couldn’t handle the trauma of seeing someone die, Kat replies, “I’d say if anyone could cope with it, it’s you” (45). By the end of the novel, one year later, Pippa has made great steps toward recognizing her worth and contributions to the relationship, and she sees that her identity within it is different than she thought. She isn’t a “helper,” and when she realizes that, she establishes her own identity as separate from Gabe: “[He] is still a part of our lives. But he’s not my whole life. He’s not me. Not anymore” (323). Pippa now sees herself as a distinct individual whose identity doesn’t hinge on Gabe’s.
Pippa’s changing attitude toward the boundaries of her own identity is key to her character’s developmental arc. At the end, when she is able to view Gabe’s potential culpability in Amanda’s death and her lack of trust in him, she says, “Gabe is Gabe. And I am me” (321). This statement represents the completion of Pippa’s character arc, as well as the novel’s message that people cannot change others, only themselves.
Soulmates
This is the novel’s eponymous motif that runs throughout the narrative. In particular, the novel explores what a soulmate might be or mean to different people. Pippa sees Gabe as her soulmate because of their intense love and deep connection: “It’s something I’ve had tucked in my pocket of self-satisfaction. Gorgeous husband. Adorable little girls. Great sex. Soulmates, with a connection that I’ve never seen in another couple” (115). However, over the course of the novel, Pippa discovers that her connection with Gabe is more complicated than this. She realizes that it is unclear whether Gabe feels the same way about her, and this realization breaks her sense of mutual connection with him.
To Amanda, the idea of soulmates means something quite different. She directly connects the concept with her mother, who loved Amanda’s father deeply in spite of his abuse and infidelity: “‘A blind man could see that man was a player,’ my grandmother said. But Mum didn’t listen. He was her soulmate, she said” (34). Amanda’s scorn for her mother’s decisions, and her determination to take a different path, are made explicit when Amanda asserts, “That was when I decided I’d never marry my soulmate” (36). At the end of the novel, Gabe confesses that Amanda called Max her soulmate just before her death—that is why his alleged infidelity devastated her. Despite her mother’s example, she has fallen in love with Max. By calling him her soulmate, she is evoking that memory of her mother and, with it, the shame and vulnerability that she connects with Max’s perceived infidelity. When Max responds by saying, “She was my soulmate, too” (316), he says it without that complicated history—for him, it is a simple declaration of his love. Hepworth shows the variety of ways in which the concept of the soulmate can be explored and defined through the various perspectives of the characters. Finally, Amanda’s narrative says that she has been waiting for Max in “liminal space” and that they will be reunited in death, bringing the soulmate motif to its conclusion.
Fixing
Throughout the novel, Pippa is constantly talking about fixing things—mostly her husband, Gabe. She sees fixing as part of her role in the family and her marriage—what she also terms as being a “helper.” Even though she herself asserts that “[b]elieving people can be ‘fixed’ is a dangerous idea” (18), in the very next sentence, she tells the reader, “And yet, some people can be fixed. Gabe is living proof” (18). Pippa’s insistence that every change in their life—a new house, career, or even medication—will “fix” Gabe is a constant feature of their life. After they move to Portsea, she reflects, “He’s been a different man—a better man—since we moved to the beach. […] Only a few days ago, I looked at him and thought, You’re fixed” (18). Through the motif of fixing, the novel explores the nature of mutual responsibility in a relationship and the extent to which individuals can support and depend on each other in healthy, nonjudgmental ways.
This motif is also connected to Pippa’s character arc. When she has postpartum depression, Gabe takes her surfing. After an entire day spent at the beach, she tells him, “I feel…good. You fixed me” (117). She remarks, “I was the fixer; we both knew that. Gabe was the dreamer. And yet, when I did need him, he rose to the challenge” (118). In this way, the motif connects with the motif of “Gabe is me.” Over the course of the novel, Pippa shifts from constantly trying to fix Gabe to realizing that she can’t fix him and, further, that he is not her responsibility. She relinquishes control over him, realizing that she can’t and shouldn’t try to fix Gabe anymore. In parallel, she realizes that she doesn’t need Gabe—or anyone—to fix her: The book’s concluding scene mirrors the earlier surfing scene when Gabe “fixed” Pippa, demonstrating that she is now her own champion.
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By Sally Hepworth
