Symbol: The House
The house symbolizes tradition, family, childhood, and permanence. For Maeve and Danny, being divorced from the house is the same as being divorced from their identity, their history, and their memories. A house is supposed to be a place of comfort, security, and safety; being kicked out of it means that the siblings lose much of that. Andrea, who was compared to a virus inhabiting a body, is an intruder infesting the house; the siblings see her as the person who has taken everything away from them.
Motif: Fairy Tales
Many elements of the novel relate to fairy tales: the "castle" that is the Dutch House, the wicked stepmother, the stepsisters, lost parents, abandoned children, the wealth-to-poverty narrative, etc. These motifs make the story a little dreamier, further removed from reality yet more universal as well.
Symbol: Matches and Fire
Maeve says that "Mommy gave me a box of matches for my eighth birthday...She said her mother had given her a box of matches when she turned eight, and they spent the morning learning to strike them" (25). Matches obviously create fire, and there seems to be little practical purpose for Elna to give them to her daughter as a gift and teach her how to use them. On a symbolic level, though, these matches represent the power to burn the house down: to purge what is wrong, and to set someone or something free. It's not an altogether odd gift considering Elna's antipathy toward the house.
Symbol: The Portraits
The portraits of the VanHoebeeks symbolize the past. They are antiquated in their styling and their sitters' expressions; they are cold, dour, imposing, and impressive. They speak to the house's literal and figurative foundations as well as its unchanging nature. For Maeve, who loves the past and spends far too much time mired in it, the portraits are wonderful. For Elna, who does not like the past and sees it as weighty and traumatic, the portraits are awful.
Motif: Houses and Buildings
There are many notable houses and buildings in this novel. There is the house, the Dutch House. There are the numerous buildings that Cyril and Danny buy and work on, feeling more at home in those places than anywhere else. There are Maeve's precious bungalow and her apartment where she and Danny are very happy in the early days. These spaces bring solidity and security to the characters; they are physical spaces to inhabit that can also function as spaces for memory.
