56 pages • 1 hour read
H. D. CarltonDoes It Hurt?
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
Sharks
Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of sexual assault.
Enzo’s primary area of study is sharks, and he later gets a shark tattooed on himself. His explanation for his love of sharks is that he wanted to be like them, but this desire gradually morphed into respect and admiration for them. Though the novel hints, at times, that sharks are representative of Enzo, they are actually a symbol of Sawyer’s power over Enzo, as well as of her power over men more broadly. When Enzo explains that sharks do not like to eat humans, this explanation is paired with Sawyer’s explanation that Enzo is not usually the type of man from whom she would try to steal. Likewise, Enzo fears that Sawyer will “ruin” him if he is not careful, which mirrors his feelings toward sharks that might attack him if he is not sufficiently cautious while handling them.
Though Sawyer sees herself as a cactus, Enzo’s shark tattoo blends his love and respect for sharks and Sawyer, as she more accurately fulfills the traits of sharks that Enzo loves. Like sharks, she is beautiful, graceful, and potentially “deadly,” in the sense that she can steal everything from the men she targets. The true potency of this symbol comes in Enzo’s acknowledgment that sharks are not inherently violent, only engaging in violence as needed to survive. In this same way, Sawyer only steals as much as she needs, reverting to a more peaceful lifestyle when the threat of death or imprisonment is removed. Also, much like the sharks, Enzo knows that Sawyer cannot be fully imprisoned, even as he jokes that he will imprison Sawyer in his life.
Tattoos
There are three major tattoos in the novel: One is Enzo’s shark tattoo, but the other two belong to Sawyer, representing the development of her character throughout the novel. Her initial tattoo from Simon reads “Fuck You” on her thigh, and its meaning warps over time. At first, this tattoo is a symbol of self-loathing, as Sawyer hurts herself with cigarettes and the tattoo as a way to obscure her feelings of guilt and need for punishment. In this sense, the “Fuck You” is directed internally. However, as Sawyer begins to see herself as a survivor, reframing her crimes as necessities, the “Fuck You” directs outward toward Sylvester and her memories of Kevin. As Sawyer tells Bancroft that the tattoo was a way of rebelling against Sylvester as Trinity, she is also combining the tattoo’s meaning with her redemption over killing Kevin.
The other tattoo Sawyer gets is of a cactus on her wrist, over the bruising she received from the chains Sylvester used to tie her to his bed. Much like the bruises themselves, the cactus represents Sawyer’s will to survive, just as Sawyer explains to Simon and Enzo. However, the symbol of the cactus is deeper, as a cactus is not inherently violent but is covered in thorns to protect itself, just as Sawyer does not want violence but will lash out if needed. The nature of the cactus’s resilience is its ability to go long periods without water, which takes on an additional meaning as Sawyer struggles to get on Enzo’s new boat, the Ladra, making the cactus a symbol of Sawyer’s trauma.
The Cave
On Raven’s Isle, Sawyer finds a cave filled with glowworms, which illuminate the cave and reveal a pool of clear water in the center. The symbolism of the cave is twofold, as it is both a yonic symbol, embodying femininity, and a safe haven, a location that Sawyer can claim and retreat to for protection. Yonic symbols, which evoke female genitalia, involve vessels, openings, or flowers; meanwhile, phallic symbols evoke male genitalia through objects such as rods, guns, or obelisks like the lighthouse. By retreating to the cave from the lighthouse, Sawyer is symbolically returning to her feminine center and retreating from the masculine center of the lighthouse.
The cave’s other symbolic function, as a safe haven, relies on the dangers of Raven’s Isle, which Sawyer acknowledges are reminiscent of a “horror movie.” The cave is beautiful, filled with the bioluminescent glowworms that highlight the pool of water in the center, and Sawyer wonders how something so peaceful and beautiful can exist on the terrifying island. Appropriately, Sawyer loses her sole ownership of the cave when Enzo intrudes on it, symbolizing a kind of sexual assault in the yonic interpretation. This is paired with his desire to overwrite the memory of the prior sexual assault on the Johanna. In the pool, Enzo performs oral sex on Sawyer, representing his willingness to forgo violent penetration in a moment of vulnerability for both of them, forging a new, safe interpretation of their sexual relationship.
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By H. D. Carlton
