Red Kayak

The Corsica River is central not only to the plot of The Red Kayak, but also to its meaning. In the very first chapter, we learn that Brady has taken to sitting on the banks of the river in an effort to make sense of Ben's death, his friends' involvement, and the role he himself played in all of it. He reflects on the river's dual nature—the beauty and serenity of its surface hiding the strong currents underneath—saying, "I still marvel at how all those tiny ripples in the water can catch the sunlight and make the river shimmer like a million jewels were strewn on the surface. Deceptive, how other times the same water can seem as smooth as glass. You’d never know that underneath, the currents run so hard and so fast" (5).

This basic image of surface tranquility masking deeper turmoil mirrorsseveral of the novel's central themes and concerns. Most obviously, it parallels the truth about the kayak itself: what looks at first like an accident turns out to be an intentional act, with the river quite literally hiding the key to solving the mystery—the kayak. It also functions more broadly as a symbol for the ability of the past to haunt the present, and of an apparently functional community to harbor deep resentments and divisions.

In addition to this symbolic significance, the Corsica is also a recurring motif in The Red Kayak. Cummings often uses the river to set the mood for a particular scene; in the aftermath of Ben's death, for instance, Brady guiltily takes the sound of an eagle screeching overhead as an accusation. Finally, the relationship different characters have to the Corsica speaks to the class dynamics at play in the novel. For the DiAngelos, the river is merelya source of recreation. By contrast, the lives of the book's working-class characters revolve almost entirely around the Corsica. Brady's family, for instance,depends so heavily on the river for their livelihood that the possibility of having to relocate plays a major role in his decision to keep quiet about the drill. 

The butterfly garden in the Parks' yard is a symbol of hope and rebirth in the wake of loss. Brady's mother planted it after her infant daughter Amanda's death. Tending the garden kept her busy, but also served as a reminder of the possibility of regeneration after suffering. Caterpillars undergo a kind of death and rebirth in order to become butterflies, and it occurs to Brady that his mother may see death as a similar kind of transformation, with Amanda's soul surviving in a different form. Even setting aside the spiritual implications, the butterfly garden holds out the promise of new life to the Parks family; butterfly eyes, Brady says, "can look forward and backward at the same time," implying that it's possible to turn toward a more hopeful future while still remembering past losses (89).

When Brady explains the role the butterfly garden played in his mother's grieving process, Mrs. DiAngelo decides to plant a butterfly garden of her own. Brady helps her, and therefore worries when he learns she pulled the garden up before leaving for Virginia, seeing it as aindication of her anger towards him. It turns out, however, that Mrs. DiAngelo uprooted the garden in order to take it with her, once again underscoring its symbolism; this final transformation marks the beginning not only of a new stage in the DiAngelos' life, but also a new stage in Brady's, who is now certain of their forgiveness and understanding.

Throughout The Red Kayak, oxymorons function as a way for Cummings to depict and explore the friendship between Brady, J.T., and Digger. Something of an in-joke, these phrases tend to crop up at pivotal moments in the boys' friendship: when the red kayak passes by on the morning of the accident and after Brady has discovered the truth about J.T. and Digger's involvement, among others. Most poignantly, Brady thinks of an oxymoron as J.T. and Digger wait to hear their sentences: "alone together" (202). This final oxymoron—the last in the book—marks the disintegration of the boys' friendship in the wake of Ben's death; they are now alone even in each other's company, although Cummings does hold out some hope for the friendship in the future.

In different ways, both Brady's LEGOs and the hamster he adopts from the DiAngelos symbolize his ongoing connection to Ben. The toy Aquanauts are a tangible reminder of both the afternoon Brady spent babysitting Ben and of the future that Ben will not have: Brady had hoped to give Ben the Aquanauts as a get-well gift. The profession of the figures is particularly ironic (and poignant) given that Ben died in a water accident.

Brady eventually packs up the Aquanauts and his LEGOs in an attempt to move on from Ben's death. As if in answer, two chapters later Mrs. DiAngelo asks him whether he’ll take care of Tiny Tim—Ben's pet hamster. Tiny Tim's name reinforces the link to Ben; in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim is the name of a young boy—a few years older than Ben—in danger of dying. Brady agrees to adopt the hamster, which begins to function as Brady's conscience as he first hides and then discards the incriminating drill: "Tiny Tim, on a shelf nearby, heard me [hiding the drill] and crawled out of his newspaper nest, so I let him sniff my finger, then I gave him a few sunflower seeds" (109). At the end of the novel, Brady gives Tiny Tim to his cousin Emily in order to move on from Ben's death—this time, in a healthier way.

Brady's father has traditionally divided his time between working as a carpenter and fishing for crabs. As the novel opens, however, this latter source of income is under threat; crabs are increasingly rare in the Chesapeake Bay, and the government of Maryland has begun to place restrictions on the number of hours crabbers can work in order to mitigate the damage. This frustrates Mr. Parksand his fellow fishermen, not only because it cuts into their profits, but also because they blame the declining crab population on pollution from recent high-end development projects. By pitting the working-class crabbers against Bailey Wharf's wealthy newcomers, the crabbing dispute thus functions as a motif underscoring the broader class tensions present in The Red Kayak. Likewise, Mr. Parks' eventual decision to break with the other crabbers in the interests of the bay's health (overfishing, he ultimately concedes, is a problem as well) parallels Brady's decision to turn his friends in.Digger's resentment of the DiAngelos, though understandable, does not absolve him or J.T. of responsibility for sabotaging the DiAngelos' kayak and inadvertently killing Ben.