57 pages • 1 hour read
Liane MoriartyThe Last Anniversary
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005A 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
Storytelling
Storytelling is a motif as well as a device in the novel. Moriarty employs metanarrative, allowing her characters to tell stories within a story, and this asks questions about the nature and purpose of stories, even “true” ones. Sometimes the novel hides the identity of the speaker so as to create narrative suspense and curiosity for the reader; it also points out how the identity of the storyteller can be crucial to understanding the story.
Women build bonds through storytelling and exchanging information. Rose and Grace tell visual stories, supplementing their words with art. Enigma sees storytelling as a means of gaining attention and interest from those around her. Veronika does not enjoy the act of storytelling (or reading/ listening) so much as the act of finding out the answer, and it is this spirit of demanding intrigue that has kept the Scribbly Gum Island business going for decades. The motif of storytelling supports the theme of female solidarity as women exchange confidences through stories, sharing and keeping secrets. Sophie finds comfort in storytelling, repeating the narrative of her parents’ love story and allowing this framework to dominate her worldview. Connie gains authority and capital from storytelling, as she ultimately creates a business through a fabricated narrative.
Food
Connie’s family is defined by their love of food. Growing up in the Depression, Rose and Connie often went hungry. When their mother was alive, the family depended on her cooking abilities to create meals from minimal ingredients. After she died, the girls tried to undertake the same responsibilities.
The motif of food supports the theme of female solidarity, as cooking and eating together creates essential bonding time for Connie’s family. Food in the book is closely linked to homemaking, love, and eligibility. Sophie is drawn to the family’s gifts with food; her relationship with Thomas was because of both her fascination with his family and his excellent cooking abilities. Sophie views herself as not much of a cook but certainly an expert baker. Her relationship with food is mostly that of a privileged consumer. Sophie’s parents did not teach her how to cook like the self-sufficient islanders did; rather, as cosmopolitan mainlanders, they enjoy bonding with their daughter by exploring new restaurants together as a sacrosanct monthly ritual.
Grace’s traumatic childhood experiences and her suicide plans are associated with her food allergy. In this way, the novel emphasizes food as a symbol of love and family and, therefore, as a means for negative control when familial love is withdrawn.
Babies
Babies frequently appear throughout the text as symbols of hope, new beginnings, and consummation, but also of the pressures and vulnerabilities placed on women. Baby Enigma is the central figure of the Munro Baby Mystery; her birth was the catalyst for Connie and Rose to build their business and lift their family out of poverty. However, Enigma was conceived as the result of rape, and this highlights the powerlessness of Connie and Rose as poor young women in the 1930s, unprotected by their parents or society. This complexity is carried through into the figure of baby Jake, as Grace experiences severe postpartum depression. Although babies in the book are presented as innocent (and Sophie’s continued desire to have a baby is part of the novel’s driving motivation), the natures of conception, birth, and motherhood are depicted as challenging, unpredictable, and complex.
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By Liane Moriarty
