48 pages • 1 hour read
Kristin HannahFly Away
Kristin HannahFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A 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
Tully’s Storage Unit
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses self-harm and physical abuse.
As Tully begins writing her memoir, she turns to the boxes of mementos and items from her past to provide material on which to write about. She tries on more than one occasion to view the items she has stored but cannot. Confronting the memories and reminders of her past is too painful. That Tully has locked away these tangible items in a storage room which she never visits is symbolic of the way in which she has locked away her painful memories, refusing to think about or dwell on her past. That she believes she can successfully ignore her past and the way that it has harmed her by not “looking at it” demonstrates the way Tully denies how difficult such pain is to handle on her own.
It is only when Dorothy, who has successfully confronted and made peace with her own past, digs through the mementos while Tully is comatose, that the process of Tully’s reconciling her pain can begin. Tully’s severed relationship from Dorothy, in truth, is central to these items, and that Dorothy is not only present for Tully’s encountering these items, but initiates it, is an important indication that Dorothy loves Tully and seeks Tully’s forgiveness.
Kate’s Journal
In her final days, Kate instructs Tully to give to Marah a journal she has been keeping. In the journal, Kate writes about herself, but, most importantly, her thoughts and experiences as a mother. Tully, in keeping with her promise to Kate to protect and care for Marah in Kate’s absence, frequently encourages Marah to read the journal. Throughout most of the novel, however, Marah refuses, too mired in denial of her sadness and other feelings. To read her mother’s journal would force her to confront and address those feelings; Marah’s refusal to read the journal, then, represents not only her refusal to cope in healthy ways, but her denial that she can manage her grief on her own.
It is not until Marah realizes that she has hurt the people who love her the most—Tully and Johnny—and, that they and the rest of her family do indeed love her unconditionally, that she is ready to turn to her mother’s journal. That Marah chooses to read the journal aloud to Tully while Tully is comatose is also symbolic. Marah recognizes the importance of her mother to Tully, and the ways that Tully has tried to help Marah through her grief. Marah regrets the ways she has hurt Tully and her reading aloud from the journal is a type of apology to Tully. Indeed, as both Tully and Marah hear Kate’s words, they begin to heal, reassured that they will keep Kate alive within themselves forever.
Physical Wounds
The internal pain of several characters is manifest in external ways. Marah’s cutting, Tully’s panic attacks, and the physical injuries suffered by Dorothy are all outward evidence of their respective trauma. For quite some time, Tully denies that what she is experiencing is indeed panic attacks and denies that they are symptomatic of her unexpressed grief for Kate’s death. However, the anxiety she feels at not only having to re–establish her career, but in having to face this challenge—and all changes in the future—without the support of her best friend ultimately manifests itself in a physical way. Unfortunately, the medication prescribed for her, while it helps for a while, eventually only serves to cover up Tully’s true pain.
This is like the way Marah’s cutting helps her in the short term—or at least provides the guise of helping. The psychology behind this self-harm is complex, but for Marah the physical pain numbs the emotional pain by distracting Marah from it. It draws her focus from the emotional emptiness onto her wounds. Importantly, she covers up these external wounds, masking them just as she does her emotional pain. These marks on her arms parallel the scars Dorothy bears from her father’s cigarette burns. Indeed, Dorothy too has suffered numerous physical traumas during her time at two mental institutions. These physical wounds heal but leave a reminder of the trauma they caused. With time and attention to her past, Dorothy can heal emotionally as well, providing a model for the kind of healing both Tully and Marah can undertake.
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