49 pages • 1 hour read
Scythe & Sparrow
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Symbols & Motifs
Letters
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes cursing and descriptions of physical abuse.
The letters that Rose Evans and Fionn Kane write to each other during their separation are symbolic of their love. The two are forced apart for seven months when Leander Mayes demands that Fionn take a contract-killing job in Croatia. Per the terms of the assignment, Fionn must live “a life in secret apart from [his] loved ones” (357), and he is forbidden from telling them of his whereabouts or activities. Throughout this difficult time, Fionn sends Rose a series of letters. Each one includes a different tarot card, which Fionn uses to communicate his complex feelings. The letters also end with the same professions and promise: “I love you. I’m not letting you go. I never will” (336). The letters thus have a romantic, confessional, and insistent tone, proving that Fionn is trying to maintain his connection with Rose despite the obstacles that separate them. He is also using the written word and the tarot cards to express his devotion to Rose.
The characters also write, exchange, and read new letters aloud during their three-week stay in Ellsworth. These letters are “about happiness. Relief. Gratitude” (355). The lovers continue to use letter-writing to communicate even after they reunite because recording their feelings in this concrete fashion helps them articulate their needs, hopes, and desires more clearly. The letters collectively show the profundity and complexity of Rose and Fionn’s connection, and the two ultimately use this tool to heal and foster a more sustainable future together.
Silveria Circus
The Silveria Circus is symbolic of restlessness. Rose first joined the circus when she was 15 years old in order to escape her childhood with a “piece of shit dad” and a “mom so broken she couldn’t look after [her]” (225). Ever since, the circus has offered Rose the illusion of belonging and home, freedom and escape. Although she loves her coworkers and often regards her boss, José Silveria, as a father figure, the circus cannot satisfy all of her longings and needs. She begins to realize this when she breaks her leg and is forced to take a hiatus from Silveria in Hartford.
When she isn’t on the road, Rose is forced to sit with the “pent-up tension” (160) that she has been masking since she was a teenager. She experiences “cabin fever” while staying at Fionn’s because she is “used to being on the road and performing every weekend” (160) and because she has never confronted the sources of her unrest. Over time, she begins to understand that circus life might not be the life she wants. Once she acknowledges her desire for greater stability and consistency, she is able to find a deeper sense of peace.
As she works toward this new goal, José helps Rose to realize her need for a new life in order to quell her unease. He remarks that while the circus “used to bring [her] joy” (341), the lifestyle no longer seems to satisfy her needs. His comments help her to see that while she will always have a home with the circus, she might have outgrown this lifestyle. Rose takes José’s words to heart and soon realizes that she is indeed more at peace when she is not constantly traveling.
Tarot Cards
Rose’s tarot cards are symbolic of her deeper need to develop her identity and reach a place of whole-hearted self-acceptance. Rose is attached to the deck because it once belonged to her late grandmother, who passed her talent and love for divination on to Rose. Whenever Rose is shuffling, drawing, or reading the tarot cards, she feels “a weirdly strong feeling” (184) that she is communicating with her grandmother. She likes feeling her grandmother’s presence and relies on the cards to maintain a sense of peace, comfort, and order.
Traditionally, tarot cards have been used to predict the future, provide clarity on the past, and offer direction and answers to the questioning individual. For Rose, tarot offers her a way to help others. When she is doing a tarot reading, she takes on the persona of “Sparrow”—a mysterious seer who offers women in abusive relationships relief from violence. The cards offer her a point of connection with these women to whom she deeply relates. Therefore, Rose becomes her truest self when she does a reading because tarot helps her to act from the heart. The cards also help to connect Rose and Fionn, especially given that Fionn sends Rose a new tarot card with each of his love letters. The cards, therefore, offer Rose an imagistic and symbolic entry into his written confessions. Likewise, Fionn’s unique use of the cards helps him to become the most authentic version of himself and to organically communicate his feelings.
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