51 pages • 1 hour read
Emma HealeyElizabeth is Missing
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
How Society Treats the Elderly
The novel is written in the first person, which brings the reader into Maud’s mind as she starts to lose awareness of what is happening around her. Using a first-person narrative develops the reader’s empathy for Maud and her situation, and it also places Maud in control by default. This is a powerful position for Maud who struggles to maintain mental and physical control in her own life, from forgetting who her daughter is to lashing out in bursts of destructive anger.
The book depicts the loneliness and isolation that many older people experience. At the beginning of the book, Maud reflects that “Elizabeth is the only friend I have left; the others are in homes or graves” (6). As she sits home alone, she thinks, “I have plenty of time to look at everything, and no one to tell what I’ve seen” (9).
The world is impatient with Maud. The policeman teases her about her frequent visits to the station, the doctor is tired of her calls, Peggy at the charity shop reminds her that she doesn’t need Maud’s help, Peter is exasperated with her, and Helen is frequently frustrated with her.
Although Maud is frequently confused, she is also self-aware: “I forget things—I know that—but I’m not mad. […] I’m tired of the sympathetic smiles and the little pats people give you when you get things confused, and I’m bloody fed up with everyone deferring to Helen rather than listening to what I have to say” (20).
Maud’s reaction to her treatment ranges from embarrassment to rage. When she gets upset with Helen, she throws her alarm clock and pinches her. She smashes her tea cup at the church. Maud expresses herself through these acts of rebellion when words fail her.
However, Maud is also capable of connection when she recognizes kindness from others. A boy with a dog tells her that she gives off a “good vibe.” The receptionist at the newspaper takes the time to help Maud with the missing persons ad for Elizabeth. When her granddaughter Katy teases her, Maud is pleased: “I can’t help smiling; it’s nice, being teased. Elizabeth often teases me, too. It makes me feel human” (36).
When Maud meets the old woman from the nursing home, she’s given a glimpse of what life might be like without her daughter watching out for her. The old woman tells her that the care workers don’t know her likes and dislikes, and they call her by the wrong nickname.
The novel highlights the challenges the elderly face. The reader shares in Maud’s experience as people dismiss, ignore, and patronize her. Maud solves the mystery of Sukey’s disappearance despite her limitations; therefore, the author shows that the elderly have much to tell us if only we’ll listen.
Memory
Although Maud is losing the ability to remember things that have just happened, Maud’s memories of the year her sister went missing are extremely vivid.
Maud’s senses often trigger her memories. When she hears the song “Champagne Aria,” Maud remembers the day Douglas’ mother died. When she smells licorice or fennel, she thinks of the mad woman. When she smells stale clothes at the charity shop, Maud’s reminded of the smell of the clothes in Sukey’s suitcase. When Maud tastes lipstick, she’s reminded of the time she wore Sukey’s lipstick while out with Frank and how Douglas angrily wiped it off.
As Maud’s disease progresses, the boundary between past and present begins to dissolve, and she is unable to distinguish between the two. Maud clings to her memories just long enough to solve the mystery of Sukey’s disappearance. Because she’s unable to form new memories, she cannot remember Elizabeth has died and so, for Maud, Elizabeth will forever be missing.
Burial and Unearthing
Throughout the book, unearthing planted or buried items preoccupies Maud. In the Prologue, Maud digs up Sukey’s broken compact in Elizabeth’s yard. This item is an important clue to her sister’s disappearance nearly 70 years earlier.
When Maud breaks a black plate at a restaurant, she’s reminded of when Douglas shattered Sukey’s records and buried them in Maud’s family’s garden: “I keep looking at the plate […] it looks like a broken record, a broken gramophone record” (20).
Throughout the novel, Maud fixates on summer squash. The connection between records and summer squash is explicit when Maud notices that the blossom the dying mad woman gave her “was a flower from a squash plant […] like an old gramophone horn” (264).
Maud knows that Sukey’s disappearance is linked to these three items, but she’s unable to make the connection until the end of the novel, when Sukey’s buried body is unearthed from Elizabeth’s garden.
