Sandwich

Fiction | Novel | Adult

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 2

Parts 3-4

Parts 5-6

Part 7-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Sandwiches

A complex symbol, sandwiches connect to the novel’s thematic interest in Shifting Family Dynamics and to Rocky’s characterization. She introduces herself initially through her familial relationships: to her husband, children, and parents. As she enters middle age, she finds herself suddenly “sandwiched” between her aging parents’ generation and that of her children and notes her age as equidistant between her parents and her children. Rocky has always defined herself largely through these family relationships, but as her parents and children age, the nature of her relationships with them changes, and that is one of the key challenges that she navigates. Although certain aspects of parenting ease as her children age, new difficulties arise. Aging parents represent another set of relational issues, and Rocky experiences these twin problems as an unexpected “growing pain” of middle age.

In addition, sandwiches symbolize Rocky’s particular parenting style and the way she must grow and adapt as her family changes. Rocky prepares sandwiches for the family’s lunch every day, individualizing them to each family member’s specific preferences. She’s aware that she has always been the more hands-on parent, the emotionally invested parent, and (if she’s totally honest) the parent who wants to be in control. Although she finds her parenting overwhelming and wishes that her husband would help with more of the household’s emotional labor, she can’t (and won’t) change. The sandwiches are evidence of her parenting style, representing her orientation toward caretaking and family life. At the end of the novel, the family decides to order takeout rather than eat their customary sandwiches, and Rocky is initially offended. She’s upset that a key part of her role has been “taken” from her but realizes that as families grow and age, family dynamics necessarily change and recalibrate. Perhaps, she admits to herself, this is a blessing in disguise, and she can finally rest after decades of parenting-induced exhaustion.

The Rented Cape Cod Cottage

The Cape Cod cottage that Rocky’s family rents each year symbolizes family life itself. Rocky, Nick, Willa, and Jamie all cherish the aspects of the small, rustic cottage that remain unchanged after so many years, but they all also take note of the differences and upgrades. In a way, they would like the cottage to remain exactly as they remember it from their first year, (although the children were too small then to truly recall it), yet items like the coffeemaker and various pieces of furniture wear out and are replaced. Much of the novel focuses on how family dynamics shift and relationships must be recalibrated as family members enter and leave various stages of life, and the cottage thus speaks to the theme of Shifting Family Dynamics: Despite how much Rocky would like family dynamics to remain unchanged by time, she admits to herself that as both she and her children age, the nature of their bond changes. In the same way that the family must adjust to new furniture in the cottage replacing the cherished, older models, they must adjust to one another as they age.

The cottage, however, is a complex and multifaceted symbol, and it also connects to the theme of Nostalgia and the Passage of Time. Because the family returns each year to the same place, Rocky has a decades-long series of memories set against the very same backdrop. She can’t help but look at Willa and Jamie in the cottage’s kitchen, at the beach, or at the pond, and recall them in those same spots as babies, toddlers, young children, and adolescents. She’s overcome by nostalgia throughout much of the novel and dedicates much of her narration to her attempts to come to terms with the passage of time. She is, in some moments, grateful for the ease that parenting adult children brings and happy to have such a solid bond with her grown children, but part of her is discomfited by the inescapability of aging itself: Her children are aging, she and Nick are aging, and so are her parents. Indeed, she must find peace with her mother’s death at the novel’s end, so the nature of passing time remains a fraught topic.

The Female Body

Descriptions of the female body abound in the novel. It depicts female bodies at all stages of adulthood, and Rocky is often lost in thought about her own body and the bodies of others. Early in the novel, she notices Maya’s revealing outfit and reflects that “bralettes,” as they’re now called, would have once been considered an undergarment and thus inappropriate wear as tops. Now, Rocky realizes, it’s socially acceptable to wear such garments, and rather than passing judgment on the younger generation, she wishes that fashion had been that free when she was young. Rocky’s awareness of middle-aged bodies is markedly more fraught.

Much of her self-reflection focuses on dissatisfaction with her own body as she ages. Although she has come to a sort of fragile peace with herself, she remains hyperaware of the “lumpiness” she has acquired and how age redistributes weight in the body. Pregnancy, too, is a key focal point, and the novel includes many descriptions of this experience, from Maya’s morning sickness to Rocky’s difficult pregnancies, abortion, and pregnancy loss. This focus on women’s bodies as a motif connects to the theme of Women’s Reproductive Health. Newman is committed to exploring women’s health issues and to depicting middle-aged female protagonists, figures not as common in literary fiction as young female protagonists. Rocky is markedly self-reflective, and much of her interior monologue focuses on how women’s health issues have impacted her life at every stage: As a younger woman, she endured complicated pregnancies and various gynecological infections. Perimenopause brings other health issues, and Rocky struggles with the never-ending series of concerns that her reproductive anatomy seems to invite. This characterization draws attention not only to women’s health in general but also to women’s health in middle age, a topic rarely discussed in either literature or general public discourse.