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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Beauty
In many ways, the novel revolves around the admiration and pursuit of beauty. Houghton argues that objects of beauty are meant to be worshipped, and indeed beauty is worshipped throughout the book. Marion and Patrick are each drawn to Tom’s beauty. Patrick sees Tom’s physical perfection as standing in contrast to his profession as a police officer, finding his hair beneath the helmet, for instance, a revelation. Marion fantasizes that Tom will find her beautiful, whether from the light on her red hair or the surprise of her naked breasts. Patrick is so affected by beauty in art that he finds the reproduction of Henri Matisse’s painting La Danse painful to look at, since it reminds him of the beauty that does not exist within the walls of the prison. When, decades later, Marion takes Patrick into their home, she gives him the only bedroom with a view, cognizant that the beauty of his surroundings has always been important to him.
Swimming
Throughout the novel, swimming illustrates both the way that Tom holds himself apart from others and the lengths to which Marion and Patrick go to be close to him. From the beginning of the novel, Tom takes pride in his daily habit of ocean swimming and attributes his determination to a love of the water. Though uninterested in swimming, Marion uses Tom’s love of water as a way to get closer to him by convincing him to give her swimming lessons. When Patrick becomes aware of Marion, he considers telling Tom that he can’t swim, either, suggesting that both Marion and Patrick are willing to wade in the cold waters of Tom’s distance in the hope of eventually connecting with him. Later, Tom suggests to Patrick that they could swim together at Cuckmere Haven, an invitation into his private world. Tom is ultimately more loyal to swimming than he is to anything else, still leaving the house every day to swim as late as 1999, even when he’s badly needed at home with Patrick and Marion.
Personal Writing
Personal writing frequently illustrates that nothing stays secret in the world of the novel. The book is organized around two pieces of personal writing: Patrick’s 1950s journal and Marion’s 1999 manuscript. Patrick’s journal is meant only for his own eyes. In fact, he intends to burn it. Marion’s manuscript is intended to be read to Patrick. Both pieces of writing are ultimately consumed by a larger audience. Rather than reading her manuscript to Patrick as she had planned, Marion gives it to Tom to read to Patrick. In this way, she opens her confession up to a wider audience than she had originally intended and exposes her own long-held secrets, effectively ending her marriage. Patrick intended that no one read his journal, yet he ultimately lacks the will to burn the evidence of his love for Tom. After the police raid his apartment, his journal becomes its own kind of blackmail letter and excerpts are read at trial, where Marion hears them. In this way, his writing becomes a forced confession to her, as hers is a voluntary confession to him.
