Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Breath, Eyes, Memory, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma
Virginity and Violence
Home
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past
Summary
Analysis
In another session with Rena, Sophie confesses that she is worried about her mother. She tells Rena that while Martine has been pretending to be happy, in actuality she is aborting the baby after hearing it say things to her. Rena asks if Martine has always heard voices, and suggests Martine have an exorcism or some other kind of “release ritual.” Rena asks if Martine has told her “lover” about the abortion. When Sophie balks at the word, Rena chastises her and explains that perhaps, because both she and Martine cannot conceive of Martine willingly wanting sex or a child, both of them feel an increased aversion to happiness. Rena begs Sophie to get Martine help, explaining that it’s dangerous for things to continue on as they are.
Rena knows that Sophie—and her mother—are in need of a reckoning with their pasts, with their values, and with the traumas that have been passed onto them both. If the women don’t confront their pasts and begin to heal, Rena suggests, the center will not hold, and both women will spin out of control. Rena wants to help Sophie put a stop to the trauma, violence, and pain that keep cycling through her family, but Sophie perhaps feels that such powerful forces cannot be stopped.
Themes
After the session with Rena, Sophie goes by Davina’s house and uses her key to the group’s special room to sit in the dark, drink some tea, and meditate. On the way out, she sees the balloon they all released together stuck in a tree and half-deflated.
The balloon Sophie and her friends released symbolized healing and redemption in the moment. The fact that it is now stuck and deflated suggests that Sophie’s worst fears are true, and she will never be able to move on from the trauma of her past.
Themes
