48 pages • 1 hour read
Beatriz WilliamsHusbands & Lovers
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A 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
Cobra Bracelet
Content warning: This section of the guide discusses child loss.
The cobra bracelet Lucien gives to Hannah is a symbol which highlights The Power of Maternal Love. Hannah gives the bracelet to their daughter, Lucile, upon the baby’s adoption. Then Lucile passes the bracelet down to Mallory who, as Lucile writes in her will, “always wanted to try it on when she was a little girl, and I told her the bracelet could be removed only after my death” (62). Whether or not Lucile knew that she was adopted is uncertain, but—given her unwillingness to remove the bracelet even for a moment—it clearly felt deeply important to her and even significant to her identity.
The bracelet also highlights The Deceptiveness of Appearances. Although the narrative never shows Lucien revealing the cobra’s secret compartment, it is hinted at when he “close[s] his hand over the bracelet on [Hannah’s] wrist” and says, “I need to show you something” (411), just before the Chapter 19 ends. Hannah is obviously aware of the secret compartment because she uses it to convey a message about Lucile’s real identity and parentage. It may look like a beautifully wrought Egyptian cobra, but the bracelet’s beauty hides its real purpose: to conceal and convey private messages. Just like Lucien and Hannah themselves, the bracelet’s appearance hides its truth, a truth that actually gives it purpose.
Gold
The color of gold is a motif throughout the text used to symbolize things that are important to and valued by the characters. The color is first introduced via the “golden cobra” bracelet Mallory inherits from her mother, and the bracelet’s color is almost always included in its descriptions. The bracelet is deeply meaningful in myriad ways to multiple characters.
For Hannah and Mallory, the color gold is often associated with the people they love and happy times. When Hannah remembers her wedding night with Jànos, she recalls that “the promise of summer had […] turned the shadows gold” (221). And later, when she thinks back on a day with baby Kàroly, she remembers it as a “golden afternoon.” During times when Hannah was with her beloved husband or her baby, before so many things went so horribly wrong in her life, her memories have a golden hue, signifying their value and importance to her. Mallory describes Monk’s voice as “liquid gold,” and she notes his “golden chest” when he emerges from the ocean. On the morning after Mallory and Monk first confess their feelings to one another in 2008, she opens her eyes to a crack of sunlight, calling it “a line of gold” (227). Then, at dinner on Winthrop Island in 2022, Mallory says that “the air turns gold” while Paige’s and Mallory’s families are all together (366), enjoying one another’s company, before Lee’s arrival. Mallory often associates Monk with gold, which is fitting because she has never stopped loving him and he is very important to her. When Monk goes to Mallory’s home in Connecticut to confess his feelings for her in the wake of her confession, “[t]he air is […] drenched in September gold” (498), and after they reunite, “dreamy gold light slant[s] from the window” into Mallory’s bedroom (518). In short, the color signifies the value of an item or a person in Hannah’s and Mallory’s lives.
Green Eyes
Lucien has green eyes, and his daughter and granddaughter inherit this rare color from him. They symbolize hope for new generations throughout the text. Although green is often associated with jealousy, it is also representative of new life, and this is the symbolism it takes on in the text. While Mallory views Lucien’s eyes as the color of “hope,” Monk at the end of the text compares the color of Mallory’s eyes to spring. This generates a connection between Lucien and his great-grandchild, Sam, who provides hope for Mallory and Monk and their relationship.
In addition, the cobra bracelet has “emerald” eyes that are often described as life-like and which match Lucien’s, Lucile’s, and Mallory’s green eyes. The first time Mother Bernadette heard Hannah speak was after she gave birth and said that Lucile had her father’s eyes. Later, Mallory is described as having inherited Lucile’s unusual green eye color, so the cobra’s emerald eyes acquire the figurative meaning of The Power of Maternal Love, which extends from Hannah, through Lucile, on to Mallory.
