62 pages • 2 hours read
Rachel CuskOutline
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A 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
Tromp L’oeil (Optical Illusion)
In art, tromp l’oeil—French for something that deceives the eye—refers to a hyper-realistic optical illusion. Traditionally, a tromp l’oeil creates the illusion of three dimensions on a flat surface, but the term now broadly applies to any illusion that confuses the viewer’s sense of reality. The tromp l’oeil is a recurrent motif in the novel, illustrating its preoccupation with the interplay between illusions and reality.
When Faye glances at the photograph of the happy couple on the café window, she sometimes mistakes them for real people. The moment causes her fear and confusion, feeling like “the sight of them overpower[s] one’s own sense of reality” (50). The illusion bothers Faye not only because it disorients her but also because it makes her own reality seem lacking in comparison. The words that Faye uses to describe the illusion indicate this sense of lack: It makes Faye think that people can be “bigger and happier and more beautiful than you remember[] them to be” (50). Thus, the optical illusion also functions as a symbol for society’s mythmaking around happiness, success, and perfect appearances.
Anne, too, dislikes illusions, such as the realistic terracotta statue of the woman in Clelia’s apartment. The statue is glazed white and three feet tall, raised on a plinth so that it seems almost life-size. The woman’s arms are raised, and her expression suggests that she is about to say something. She wears a robe that catches the light and “glow[s] at dusk” (55). Though the description suggests a quasi-religious figure, which could be offering a benediction, Anne is frightened by the statue. She tells Faye that she does not like illusions: “I forget they’re there” (229). For Anne, the trickery of illusions reminds her that life itself can play tricks on a person, like the mugger jumping out of the bush. The illusion motif is important to the narrative since many of its characters are looking to find a reality that is freed even from the illusory ideals of life—such as a perfect marriage that lasts forever or a life that is always secure.
Outline
The novel takes its title from the concept of a person as an outline or a shape, with an outline functioning as a symbol for the self in the novel. The word is first used by the billionaire during his lunch with Faye: Faye notes that the billionaire is keen to give her the “outline” of his life story, “which had begun unprepossessingly, and end[s]—obviously—with him being the relaxed, well-heeled man who s[its] across the table from [her]” (3). The billionaire can give Faye a clear outline of his life because he thinks that his life and his self have crisp margins and a definite trajectory. As Faye’s sly use of “obviously” here indicates, the billionaire’s life has a feel-good twist, which makes for a good, distinct outline.
Faye, on the other hand, does not feel like she has an outline for her being. Right now, her self is too amorphous to have a shape. Thus, she does not include the outline of her own life story, such as the names of her husband and children, the reason for her divorce, or the kinds of books she writes, in her narrative. An outline implies making a shape distinct; Faye just wants to hide. Anne also uses the word “outline” to locate her sense of self. She describes to Faye how she began to find her shape in opposition to the diplomat’s nature. In a visual metaphor, she notes seeing herself as a shape that holds the rest of the world at bay. The shape is still blank inside, but it has edges that make it a separate entity from others. This indicates the difference between Faye and Anne. The novel does not prefer one concept of the self over the other. Rather, it suggests that defining the self is always an evolving exercise.
Mothers and Children
Mothers and children form a motif in the text, highlighting the subject of illusion versus reality. Faye gets texts and calls from her children during work and social events all throughout the novel, which indicates that they are the one reality that asserts itself through all illusions. Faye’s sons make demands on her—such as asking for an umbrella while she is in another country—which indicates that she feels overwhelmed by them.
At the same time, she takes their calls and always talks about them, which suggests her simultaneous love for them. Angeliki asserts that though she loves her son, she does not want to have more children since she would get “submerged” in motherhood once again (125). To gain her writer’s self, she has slowly separated herself from her growing son. Angeliki rebels against the idea of a mother as a perennially sacrificing, nurturing figure.
Mothers are of varied kinds in the novel. The neighbor describes his first two wives as cruel mothers, with his second wife locking his son in a cellar and the first wife abandoning the son to an inhumane institution. However, his third wife is a more present mother, which is why his youngest son is the neighbor’s most well-adjusted child. As the neighbor’s observations reveal, there is always societal pressure on women to be good mothers. The neighbor assumes that his son Takis’s struggles are because of his mother (the first wife) and his stepmother (second wife), without apportioning any responsibility to himself.
The narrative also shows some fathers as self-aware, involved parents, countering gendered expectations around fathers and mothers. Panitois is alert to the possibility of the effect that his divorce might have had on his children, while Ryan walks away from Elena and Faye to say goodnight to his son on the phone.
Agora
An agora was a large central public space in Greek cities and towns. The Agora of Athens is considered the best example of such a formation, containing temples, stoas (walkways with columns), altars, and statues. In the last chapter of the book, Faye recommends that Anne go see the Agora “and look at the headless statues of goddesses in the colonnade” (247).
Faye describes the Agora as having cool spaces and silence. She was once marooned in Athens for three weeks with her children, spending most of their time visiting the Agora. The Agora symbolizes a sanctuary in the novel, associated with relief and solitude. The headless statues of goddesses symbolize a oneness with other women, as well as a shared, continuing self through time and history. Unlike the terracotta statue in Clelia’s apartment, the headless statues are not lifelike. They draw attention to the fact that they are art; thus, they do not intend to trick.
Furthermore, the Agora is a symbol of the self. It has been broken down, built up, and refurbished many times, showing that the collective self disintegrates, evolves, and endures. Faye likes the fact that in the Agora, she and her children became invisible, losing themselves in the beauty and history of the space. The fact that the novel ends with Anne and Faye set on visiting this space of renewal and meditation suggests that both women will ultimately find their moorings.
Doubles, Parallels, and Repetition
Doubles and parallels are a recurrent motif in the novel, illustrating the theme of The Difficulty of Defining the Self. Characters’ names, traits, and situations often overlap in the text, creating the sense of the universality of the human condition. Since people have so much in common, the text seems to say, the margins of the self are even tougher to define.
For instance, Theo is the name of both the uncle of the neighbor and a student in Faye’s class. Another student’s name, Clio, is close to Clelia. Just as Faye encounters a neighbor on the plane, so does Anne (Faye will meet another neighbor in Kudos, the last novel of the trilogy). Both Ryan and the neighbor have brothers who have been abandoned by society because of their disabilities. According to the neighbor, his son Takis’s mother has also abandoned him due to Takis’s schizophrenia.
The motif of doubles also mirrors Faye’s sense of disorientation with the world, where images and voices often seem to repeat and converge. For instance, when Faye looks out of the window of Clelia’s flat, she sees the view of the backs of buildings in shadow. The view is a jumble filled with “strange rectilinear shapes where new structures and extensions had been added, jutting into the empty space between the two sides,” creating “this narrow white ravine of blocks and rectangles” (229). The image is of multiplying rectangles, which illustrates Faye’s sense of being overwhelmed.
