One Summer in Savannah: A Novel

“We are a broken family of five, divided by two, remainder of one.”

Jacob’s thoughts on the fracture of his family introduce The Shifting Definition of Family. Further, the use of math-oriented language here ties into the logical and scientific perspective that Jacob and the Wylers have, which inhibits them from facing emotional conflicts. This quote demonstrates the complexity of familial relationships, including Jacob’s feelings of isolation, and subtly argues that logic alone isn’t sufficient to solve emotional problems.

“Her intelligence affords her the ability to decipher his poetry at this tender age, but she has not yet mastered the ability to speak to him solely in poetry, and my heart sinks at the realization that there no longer is the time for her to learn.”

Sara’s heartbreak at her father’s illness and possible death in this passage ties Alana’s intelligence to the poetry and time motifs. Hosea’s insistence on speaking in verse forces those around him to interpret his meaning. Although Alana can decipher Hosea’s way of speaking, she cannot yet respond exclusively in poetry. Sara’s use of personification depicts her heart physically sinking, which expresses her profound sadness at realizing that she and Alana have a limited time left with Hosea.

Despite my resolution to forgive him, his action, even after all of these years, still cuts into my mind like splinters of bone, and it remains difficult to think of him without thinking of his crime and how it devastated our family.”

Jacob’s first meeting with Daniel exposes Jacob’s intent to forgive but simultaneously highlights the challenges that Jacob immediately encounters when talking with his brother. Although Daniel has worked to atone for his crime and regrets what he did, Jacob can’t help but see the damage that Daniel caused that can never be undone. The simile of that knowledge—“splinters of bone”—conveys the sharp, painful feeling that Jacob has when thinking about his crime. His difficulty in forgiving him reflects The Complex Nature of Forgiveness and The Impact of Sexual Violence on the Wyler family.

“The idea of mortality affects everyone differently. Rarely are we privy to the moment of our death. Most of the time, death sneaks up on us like a sneeze.”

Harris conveys an awareness of looming mortality in this passage. Time is a major motif in the novel, which ties all the characters together. Here, the surprise of death is described as sneaking up like “a sneeze,” something both sudden and uncontrollable.

“A haze clouds my thoughts as I sit in my truck, sifting through the knowledge of what I had just learned, baffled at the ripple effects of Daniel’s crime. And I’m angry. Angry for Sara. Angry that such a brilliant child was produced under such circumstances.”

Jacob’s discovery of his niece shocks him. This is because he learns of a new family member and realizes the impact of sexual violence. His brother’s rape of Sara had ramifications for not just his own family but also the Lancasters. Daniel’s actions do not define Alana, but Jacob’s anger is triggered on behalf of both Sara and Alana. Harris juxtaposes Alana as a “brilliant child” with the criminal circumstances in which she was conceived.

“In the end, I think as I walk upstairs and slide back into bed, I bought myself eight years of a life not entirely free from what I ran away from. What I have been holding dear is really not so great an existence. I am not happy thinking about fleeing back to our home at the end of the world. I have to once again be proactive to buy myself time.”

Sara realizes that the life she built as a protective boundary from her trauma and assault is not the life she wants, marking a turning point in the novel. Her internal conflict thus far has been between living in the past or living for the future. The desire to hide from her past has limited her life, which highlights the impact of sexual violence.

While her eyes search for a focal point, darting around the room and failing to land on anything, I find that I cannot take mind off her. Trauma changes you, hardens you, leaves its scars. On Sara, it does not show.”

Sara’s healing journey is a key piece of the plot and connects to her relationship with Jacob. When Jacob looks at Sara, he doesn’t see her trauma, even though he is aware of it. Harris depicts this by Jacob describing Sara as having scars that don’t show. The language in this passage also shows that Jacob sees the potential for healing in Sara. In doing so, he validates and respects her strength while acknowledging her pain.

“Each was a moment when I knew smart wasn’t the correct word, signaling that normal doesn’t apply to Alana, and together, they remind me that she will never have an ordinary life.”

One of the minor conflicts for Sara is her desire to offer Alana the potential of a “normal” life despite her remarkable intelligence. Here, Sara also remarks that Alana’s life can’t be normal because of how she was conceived. Her intelligence comes in large part from Daniel and the Wylers, which directly ties to the violence of her conception. Because Alana is a product of rape, Sara acknowledges that her life will never be “ordinary.”

“I imagine there is no easy way to tell Alana. No simple lead-up. In my mind, it happens in the slowest of terms, but Sara doesn’t believe in slowly removing bandages. Or maybe this was easier for her.”

Jacob’s reaction to Sara’s blunt announcement that Jacob is Alana’s uncle reveals a difference in their characters. It also shows Jacob’s constant urge to soften the truth. Sara’s experience as a survivor, however, has shown her that acknowledging the truth swiftly is necessary, rather than revealing it gingerly like “slowly removing bandages.” This moment also highlights how well Sara knows her daughter and how Jacob is only just beginning to understand her.

“You don’t have to protect her from the truth. When you’re ready, it’s okay to paint an accurate picture of Birdie and Daniel. I appreciate you sparing them, but they certainly don’t deserve it.”

Jacob’s advice to Sara about the full truth reveals his commitment to honesty and his interest in giving Alana her complete history, painting an “accurate” picture rather than a sanitized one. He frames it initially as giving Alana the truth, not shielding her from it, and trusting her to be strong enough to handle it. However, the last sentence demonstrates his knowledge that his family is at fault and that they shouldn’t be spared the consequences.

“In this moment, I realize, like me, Jacob is a victim of his own family. He has weathered some unspeakable traumas. None by his own hands.”

Sara’s recognition of Jacob’s trauma described in this passage shows her development and highlights the impact of sexual violence. As Sara comes to understand that trauma is not limited to direct attacks, she begins to have a broader understanding of her trauma. This realization also highlights how Daniel’s crime has broadly affected Sara, her family, and the Wylers.

I wish the scenario posed at Pizza Friday were real. That I could stop time, hold a moment, for ten seconds.”

The reference here to stopping time highlights the time motif and demonstrates the burgeoning love affair between Jacob and Sara. He wants to stop time in their hug, allowing the rest of the world to stop along with them. Their relationship is growing in a private space that almost exists outside of time and their other relationships.

I resist the urge to ask who her is. Mainly because I want him to keep talking. I want to know more about him, all that he feels comfortable sharing with me. But then, suddenly, I know. I know how he knew what to say to Alana. Because he used to have a baby sister.”

Jacob spends most of the novel unable to say Naomi’s name, like Sara is unable to say Daniel’s name. The use of the pronoun “her” on its own both indicates the level of pain associated with a memory and connects Sara and Jacob. Here, Sara recognizes that use of language and begins to understand Jacob more deeply because he reacts as she does to pain.

“We’re like photons, particles of light. They always travel at the speed of light. A photon emitted by the sun will be absorbed by your skin when it touches you…But to the photon, no time will have passed from when it was emitted to when you absorbed it. From the point of view of the photon, the time of its emission and the time of its absorption is the same. They happen simultaneously.”

Jacob’s poetic explanation of the relationship between photons and time is a metaphor for the distance and closeness between people. His interest in and understanding of science connects her to the time motif, showing that time is a construct that depends on perspective. This mirrors the use of point-of-view shifts in the novel to provide a fuller perspective on Jacob and Sara’s relationship.

“While Jacob and Sylvia contemplate the next move, I pinch my eyes shut, knowing what’s about to ensue. I wait for the panic to rise in me. Wait for the hives, the sweat, the heart palpitations. Wait for the flood of thoughts choking my ability to reason. The fear for Alana will come next, and all the consequences that come along with someone else finding out.”

This description of the fear that has controlled Sara for the past eight years is vivid and intense. Harris’s combination of figurative (comparing thoughts to a flood that chokes her ability to reason) and concrete (hives, sweat, and heart palpitations) language depicts the depth of trauma and fear that Sara has experienced in the wake of her attack.

The silence between us is unlike any other before, full of conflicting emotions tugging at each other. We hold each other in the dark, our chests rising and falling together, the bookstore steeped in shadows and illuminated by moonlight. We don’t have any answers. Just questions in a sea of unknowns. I don’t know who is holding whom, who is comforting whom. It doesn’t matter. We are two people bound by common circumstance, comforted by the fact that we are not alone.”

This moment is a turning point in the novel and in Sara’s character development. She becomes fully aware of the effect of Daniel’s crime on Jacob and his family. Likewise, she sees how the coming loss of his twin hurts Jacob. Their shared pain in the wake of the rape and the anticipation of loss that they’re both living with bond them.

“Her name falls out of my mouth naturally and unforced like it had been wedged there and finally worked itself loose.”

Throughout the novel, Jacob has not been able to speak Naomi’s name. When he forgives Birdie, however, he frees his grief. Jacob says her name naturally, evidenced by describing it falling out of his mouth naturally. He can acknowledge his entire family—even his sister, who is dead.

“Movement catches my eye. I stand and look down at the dock to see a bright-yellow light. It’s Naomi. She turns to me and smiles before diving off the dock and, something tells me, out of my life forever.”

Naomi was the catalyst that pushed Jacob back to Savannah to heal their family. His movements to forgive Birdie and Daniel and his growing relationships with Alana and Sara allow him to acknowledge his emotions and begin to heal. That healing releases Naomi’s name, and shortly after, he has a final vision of Naomi; this passage indicates that Jacob has accomplished what Naomi’s specter pushed him to do.

“Daniel is my past. Jacob is my future. They are twins, but not the same. And I can see Jacob for what he is. A man who unexpectedly came into my life and enhanced it. A man who had returned home, crawled back into the midst of chaos and fought.”

Sara articulates the connection between Daniel and Jacob, making the important distinction between them using the time motif. Even though they’re identical twins, they are different. Notably, Sara frames Daniel as her “past” and Jacob as her “future.” The various references to time and timepieces throughout the novel indicate a movement from the past, through the present, and into the future. Sara, at the start of her full relationship with Jacob, can see the brothers clearly via this metaphor of time.

“We stand, facing each other, on the edge of yet another precipice. The last time, when he walked into prison, the last time I would speak to him, see him until a few months ago. Now we face each other. Unsure of the future, our past still present between us.”

Jacob’s use of the time motif here reinforces Sara’s perception of the connection and simultaneous difference between Jacob and Daniel. This passage echoes Sara’s earlier passage and highlights the necessity of resolving the past to have a chance at a healthier future.

“Once again, and as always, he has come for us.”

This is the second important turning point in Jacob and Sara’s relationship. Even though she initially felt betrayed, when Jacob shows up at the hospital, he proves to Sara that she can trust him to show up when she needs them. The use of the plural first person here, combined with time words that indicate permanence, shows that Sara, Alana, and Jacob are now a unit, regardless of everything that happened in the past.

“I turn Dad’s letter in my hands as Jacob walks away from me, the distance between us expanding, and my self-pity-induced haze lifts just a bit, enough for me to realize what I hold and what is walking away from me.”

The letter that Jacob wrote, interpreting Hosea’s intentions, is a metaphor for all the intimacies that Sara and Jacob have craved from their families that they give one another. The letter demonstrates Jacob’s understanding not just of Sara but also of her family, art, and worldview. That revelation cements Jacob’s place in her life and family, supporting the theme of the shifting definition of family.

“I know what Birdie sees, the glints of brown specks sparkling in her green eyes, the same ones she sees in mine, in Daniel’s, as she pieces together what I already know. The little girl standing before her could be her daughter. Birdie grabs her chest as the air leaves her body.”

This is the final descriptive passage that directly connects Alana and Naomi. Sara’s knowledge that Birdie sees the daughter she lost in Alana connects Sara to Birdie in the shared experience of motherhood. This moment shows that Sara has fully empathized with Birdie and is willing to share her daughter to help both women heal.