40 pages • 1 hour read
Colleen HooverNovember 9
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A 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
Manuscript
Ben Kessler’s manuscript symbolizes two different ideas in November 9. At the beginning of the novel, Ben tells Fallon O’Neil that he is a writer and hopes to publish a bestselling novel one day. Fallon suggests that he write a romance, and when they agree to a relationship in which they only meet once a year for five years, she suggests his novel be about them. This potential manuscript thus becomes Ben’s new goal. As the years pass, the manuscript becomes a symbol of Ben’s potential success as a writer and a tangible reminder of his arrangement with Fallon.
For Ben, the manuscript is not only a means to start his career, but a place to document his truth. He hides the manuscript from Fallon, as it contains his being responsible for the fire that scarred her. The novel-in-progress is more about his emotional scars and love for Fallon than it is about their unusual romance. Ben has struggled with trauma for years (that of his mother’s death and the fire), and the manuscript becomes his way of managing it.
When Fallon finds Ben’s manuscript and learns its secrets, it becomes a symbol of betrayal. For Ben, it continues to symbolize his truth, his way of explaining his past actions. When Fallon finally reads the manuscript with a clear head, she sees the events of her past (not just those shared with Ben, but those before Ben) from a new perspective, exploring the theme of Knowledge Alters Perception. It is then that the manuscript takes on new meaning for Fallon, allowing her to forgive both Ben and her father for their mistakes.
Scars
Scars are both a symbol and a motif that speak to The Impact of Physical and Emotional Scars. For Fallon, scars are tangible things that remind her of her father allegedly setting his house on fire and forgetting her presence. These scars represent Donovan O’Neil’s negligence and indifference as far as her health, safety, and wellbeing are concerned. They also represent the loss of Fallon’s job on a successful television show and failure to find more acting jobs in New York. Finally, these scars physically change Fallon’s appearance and act as an impediment to her finding love (in her eyes).
When Fallon meets Ben, he finds her scars beautiful, and his opinion begins to elevate her confidence in herself. Deep down, Fallon knows everyone has scars, “A lot of them even worse than mine. The only difference is that mine are visible and most people’s aren’t” (61). This mentality helps her fight her own insecurity; however, she doesn’t realize that Ben is one of those people with invisible scars.
While Fallon’s scars are largely visible (physical), Ben’s are exclusively invisible (emotional). Ben doesn’t tell Fallon about his scars because they are closely related to hers—as he caused hers. However, when Fallon finally learns of Ben’s trauma upon finding his deceased mother and guilt over having caused her scars, she understands that his scars are just as damaging to his emotional wellbeing as her own. In the end, she tells him that “sometimes people make mistakes” (305) in an attempt to release him from his guilt. This act of kindness is meant to return some of the confidence his scars took from him, just as he did her by making her feel beautiful despite her scars.
Donovan’s Classic Car
Donovan’s classic car only briefly appears in the novel, but it is what brings Ben and Fallon together in the first place. Donovan is working on the car the night Ben drives to his house to get a look at the man who broke his mother’s heart. Ben fixates on the car as Donovan gets a phone call informing him of Ben’s mother’s death. The teenager wants Donovan to prove he cares, to take out his grief on the car—but he doesn’t. In this moment, Ben wonders “Would Donovan be more upset over his precious little classic car going up in flames than he was over my mother’s death?” (263).
Donovan’s classic car symbolizes Ben’s anger and grief. The car is a physical manifestation of Donovan’s supposed indifference and is a tangible thing that Ben can use to vent his anger (as Donovan doesn’t). By lighting the car on fire, he takes back some of the control he lost over losing his mother—and it gives him something other than his mother to blame. Once his anger is spent, Ben is free to grieve his mother.
Tattoos
Tattoos are a symbol of love to Ben, his mother, and Fallon. When Ben was a teenager, he asked his mother how she knew she was in love, and she pointed to her tattoo (the word “poetic” written within a music staff)—telling him that falling in love with his father was like combining two of her favorite things (poetry and music). Ben remembers this story and decides to get the same tattoo as his mother the moment he realizes his love for Fallon (during their second meeting). He doesn’t explain the tattoo’s meaning to Fallon, but it symbolizes both his love for her and his respect for his mother.
Ben and Fallon’s relationship is complicated by half-truths and misunderstandings. When Fallon reads Ben’s manuscript and recognizes his scars as just as painful as hers, she suddenly understands what Ben’s tattoo means to him. To show him she understands, she gets a similar tattoo on her own wrist—that of a book with a comedy and a tragedy mask (representing her love of books and acting). This tattoo symbolizes Fallon’s love for Ben and her newfound understanding of their shared tragedy.
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By Colleen Hoover
