56 pages • 1 hour read
We Are the Brennans
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Symbols & Motifs
The Brennans’ Kitchen Table
The kitchen table in the Brennan family house is a motif that helps drive the theme of The Importance of Family Unity. The Brennans’ kitchen table acts as a setting for many scenes in the novel. One example of the Brennans’ kitchen table being a vital symbol is when Jackie and Sunday sit Denny down to discuss his financial troubles. Jackie states that “[T]he kitchen table had been the center of their universe for many years. Everything else—school, friends, jobs—had revolved around this space” (104). At the novel’s end, the family holds an ice cream social at the dinner table after Kale returns to the Brennans with Sunday following his separation. The kitchen table also acts as the setting where the Brennans, except Shane, learn that Mickey killed Billy Walsh and realize they must make a plan to protect him. The Brennans’ kitchen table is the emotional cornerstone of the house, where the family can connect and discuss their problems.
The Magens Bay Postcard
The postcard of Magens Bay that Sunday bought and gave to Kale years ago symbolizes the hope Sunday and Kale had of a happy marriage and life together as a family. Before Sunday’s miscarriage, she hoped to elope with Kale to Magens Bay in St. Thomas. She bought the postcard in anticipation of their elopement, but with their chaotic family life, they decided to put it on hold.
After Sunday leaves and ends her relationship with Kale, he holds onto the postcard, keeping it in a desk drawer behind the bar at Brennan’s. Sunday tells Vivienne that it is just “a silly keepsake” and that “it must have gotten mixed in with papers I brought from home” (97), but Vivienne’s horrified reaction reveals that the postcard is not trivial. Kale hoped to marry and spend his life with Sunday, even though he tries to ignore his feelings throughout the novel. Sunday and Kale’s discovery of the postcard connects with the resurgence of their romantic feelings for each other, which they fight throughout the novel.
Sunday’s discovery that Kale booked their elopement devastates her, as their hope of a happy marriage and life together came so close to becoming a reality, and she quickly ended that hope when she left. At that moment, Kale appears on the bench and reveals that he decided to leave Vivienne. The postcard shows that the hope of them being together never disappeared and highlights the theme of The Importance of Family Unity.
Promise
The word “Promise” is a word motif that reflects the love and devotion Sunday and Kale have had for each other. During their relationship, they would agree on something by having one of them ask, “Promise?” and the other reply, “Promise.” This motif appears primarily in flashbacks, with the first being used in a flashback where Kale promises to marry Sunday on her 18th birthday: Sunday tells him, “You have to ask, but I won’t say no,” to which he asks, “Promise?” and she responds “Promise” (70). The motif shows the devotion Sunday and Kale had before she left. The word “Promise” also appears again on the back of the postcard when Sunday reads it in Hollis Park; it says, “Booked. Promise! June 2, 2012” (254). The use of the motif on the card shows Kale’s devotion to her even when she was at home during the Ireland trip and after her shutdown. The realization that she ended such a happy relationship that they both hoped for in their future devastates her, until she sees Kale at the park and learns that he left Vivienne, making their future a possibility again.
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