57 pages • 1 hour read
James McBrideMiracle at St. Anna
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001A 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
Invisibility
At different points in the novel, both Train and Angelo experience invisibility, which becomes a significant motif. Train experiences this invisibility as a profound connection with the world beyond him; he feels smarter when he is invisible and can detect the emotions of the world around him, even non-sentient objects. During one invisible moment, Train screams as he experiences the agony of the grass and trees that are struck by bullets. Train sees his invisibility as something that gives him invulnerability and makes him feel safe, even amid the intense dangers of war.
Angelo, by contrast, experiences his invisibility—which he faces once at the beginning and once at the end of the novel—as moments of intense isolation. Though both instances lead him to narrowly escape from death (and possibly revive him after he actually does die), he does not derive the same peace or happiness from his invisible episodes as does Train. Invisibility becomes a gift in the novel, even as it is conferred upon those who suffer a social invisibility (Train as a Black man in America, Angelo as one of many Italian children displaced by war). This invisibility is thus suggested to be a divine gift to innocents who are treated cruelly by the violent world they inhabit.
The Statue Head
The head of the Primavera is a symbol that holds multiple resonances in the novel, as it means different things to different characters. To Train, the item is a good luck charm, despite his failure to sell it before the novel’s start. He believes the head contributes to his invisibility and will guarantee him good fortune after the war (which he does not ultimately survive). To Angelo, the head reminds him of a piece of candy, which signifies to him that he can trust Train, given the American’s possession of the head. For Hector, in the years following the war, the head serves as a reminder that the traumas he suffered were real, despite the way his regiment is written out of the narrative of heroic war efforts. This shifting nature of the Primavera head suggests that the beauty of art contains multiple resonances and that true art is able to hold all of these resonances without contradiction.
Ludovico’s Rabbits
Ludovico’s rabbits show the narrow difference between a blessing and a curse in wartime. The arrival of the first rabbit initially feels like a miracle, given that the German soldiers have stolen the rabbits he carefully cultivated in the years before the war. This boon, however, quickly sours as more and more rabbits appear. Ludovico becomes more and more paranoid that either his neighbors or the Germans will attack him for having what they lack.
Despite the obvious option of sharing his rabbits with the other villagers to eliminate one of these problems (a choice that is even urged upon him by Ettora), Ludovico continues to selfishly hoard the rabbits under the floorboards of his bedroom. The problem consumes him until it doesn’t: In an off-page negotiation, he trades four of the rabbits to the American soldiers. Once he shares the rabbits, they cease to plague him, though logic would dictate that he still has an unreasonable number of rabbits living in his house.
The rabbits emerge as a symbol for the benefits of communal effort, especially in wartime. Only when he shares the rabbits instead of selfishly hoarding them (for no clear purpose) does Ludovico derive any pleasure for them. He and Ettora are also able to grow closer, and the relationship between a curse and a blessing becomes less distinct.
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