51 pages • 1 hour read
Harper L. WoodsThe Coven
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2023A 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
Willow’s Hair and Eyes
Willow’s unusual hair and eye colors represent her opposing sides—those associated with life and death magic—and become a motif that emphasizes The Balance of Opposites. Of her hair, she says, “Mine was a distinct, deep auburn, like the darkest merlot. Or as my father liked to call it, hair the color of old blood […]. It brightened at the ends, becoming more like fresh blood versus the near black of most of the length” (68). The dark length of her hair, which Samuel compares to old blood, signifies her Hecate lineage, as Charlotte Hecate was the Coven’s first witch and necromancer. By contrast, the ends of Willow’s hair are the color of fresh blood, which is linked to her Green magic and references her ability to work with the energies of the natural world. Old blood, as from the dead, is dark, while fresh blood, as from the living, is bright.
Significantly, her father’s hair does not have the red-tipped ends because he is not a Green witch and does not share that aspect of Willow’s magic. His hair is “pure black” and lacks the reddish tints, just as he lacks his sister’s powers. In contrast to Samuel, Willow’s hair symbolizes her balance of opposites, a combination that makes her much more powerful and compassionate than her father. Similarly, Willow’s heterochromatic eyes—one amber and one violet—also indicate her dual nature. Samuel has “unique purple eyes” (18) that indicate his Hecate heritage. However, Willow’s amber-colored eye, sporting a hue of the natural world, represents her Green magic, with which she channels the plants that grow in nature. Together, the two distinct colors suggest her power over both life and death.
The Portrait of Lucifer
The portrait of Lucifer in Gray’s office works as a motif that emphasizes The Balance of Opposites. The fallen angel possesses “stunningly beautiful features twisted in pain” (122), exuding a mute appeal and inciting “sympathy for the devil.” However, Lucifer’s beauty is accompanied by such a palpable “rage” that Willow can feel it. Gray keeps the portrait as a reminder that even the prettiest shell can contain terrible things, and this sentiment becomes a metaphor for himself and for Willow, both of whom are deeply attracted to each other despite the potential risks involved. The painting therefore suggests that no one is completely good or evil—not even Lucifer himself—and that everyone has the capacity for both.
In addition to the portrait’s subject, the physical painting itself hides Gray’s safe, which houses Loralei Hecate’s bones. This development hints at Lucifer’s deceptive nature—and by extension, Gray’s, since he is the Vessel for Lucifer’s soul. Gray has known what Willow is since before she was born. He gave her the devil’s mark on the night she entered the world, and yet he hides his identity and his plans from her until he has forced her to comply. Although he ostensibly offers her choices, his exertion of power over her contradicts this veneer, and he is therefore just as deceptive as the subject of the portrait in his office.
Vessels and Reapings
The Vessels’ fangs and their need to feed on primarily female witches (along with the witches’ dubious consent to these Reapings), symbolize the near-constant threats to women’s well-being and safety. Gray admits that he “cared nothing at all for the girl [he’d] never met or the free will most would say she had a right to” (15), but he also contends that the Coven’s sense of morality is little better. On the surface, the Coven’s insistence on gaining witches’ consent appears laudable and right, but given Gray’s observation that they willingly “twist circumstances” to procure that consent, it is clear that they care more about maintaining the appearance of ethical behavior than the reality of it.
The Reapings therefore represent this magical society’s implicit sanction of assault against women, for the targets of this practice are physically penetrated by the Vessels’ fangs, and this action becomes a clear parallel to rape. This parallel is even made explicit when Willow proves to be less compliant than her peers, and Susannah threatens the protagonist with the “deep sleep,” a condition that would render her unconscious so that a male witch can “breed” (i.e., rape) her. Thus, the narrative indicates that Gray cares little about Willow’s free will and merely deceives her into believing otherwise. His actions mirror the Coven’s performative insistence on obtaining witches’ consent regarding the Reapings and associated “breeding.”
