49 pages • 1 hour read
Gareth BrownThe Book of Doors
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A 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
Books
The Book of Doors, which gives the novel its title, is the center of the story and the hinge that divides the protagonist’s life into a “before” and “after.” Initially, it enters Cassie’s life as a gift from an acquaintance with whom she has a friendly but distant relationship. Eventually, she learns that her connection with both the book and the man who gifted it to her runs much deeper. In many ways, the Book of Doors can be seen as an extended metaphor for the power of books and storytelling in the wider world. It literally “opens doors” to far-off places and cultures, and it even allows one to revisit their memories of the past—all things attributed to the act of reading an engaging novel. Because of this, Cassie is a natural guardian of such an artifact; she is someone who believes deeply and intrinsically in the power of books. The Book of Doors is believed to be one of the most powerful in existence, giving its wielder the ability to be anywhere at any time.
As Izzy points out on several occasions, there is vast opportunity for abuse of such an object. This can be extrapolated into considerations of The Ethical Use of Power in the real world as well as in the novel—such opportunities for both empowerment and abuse exist through real storytelling and the way writers can have a measurable impact on their readers. This significance extends to the other magical books within the story, as they each carry different powers. This symbolizes how books can have different emotional impacts, both from each other and on different readers. The same book that can inflict pain on one person can remove it from another. As such, books offer thought-provoking considerations of the responsibilities of both readers and writers as they engage with each other through story.
The Fox Library
The Fox Library represents The Pursuit of Knowledge, but it also represents a sense of community. It is both a literal physical library and an organization of people committed to understanding and protecting the magical books. It takes on a near-mythic quality among those “in the know” as an archive of powerful artifacts, yet to Drummond it becomes a looming symbol of everything he has lost. In spite of this, the library remains so intrinsically tied to his identity that he becomes known to others as “the Librarian.”
When Cassie first enters the Fox Library, her immediate impression is that it has a similar emotional resonance to Kellner Books. Because of its vast literary collection and welcoming atmosphere, she feels a sense of warmth and belonging. Her impressions foreshadow the coming together of the new organization at the end of the novel and the implications of her and Drummond’s future relationship.
Fox Library also follows a pattern of light and darkness. It begins as an institution focused on intellectual illumination before being literally and figuratively abandoned to the darkness. It then spends a decade relegated to the shadows where its power cannot be used for either good nor evil until, following the Woman’s defeat, it is literally and figuratively restored to the light. Once the library re-emerges, it again becomes a place of intellectual discourse and enlightenment between friends.
Light
Light is a recurring motif throughout the novel, portrayed as a force of both destruction and creation. The clearest example of this is in the Book of Light, a magical object that can be used to illuminate and to overpower. Drummond’s friend Yasmin attempts to use it as a weapon, threatening to blind the Woman during their battle. This shows that light can be a protective as well as an offensive force. The juxtaposition portrayed in this scene alludes to how power can be used in many different ways depending on the individual: Yasmin uses the Book of Light as an offensive weapon and ultimately fails, while Drummond uses the Book of Shadows, an inversion of the Book of Light, as a defensive weapon and ultimately escapes.
Fire also appears several times throughout the narrative. When Izzy and Lund go on the run, they build a beach fire and share a moment of connection. The fire acts as a beacon that allows Cassie to find them, disrupting the new couple’s privacy but reuniting the estranged friends. While neither inherently positive nor negative, the flame here is undeniably a herald of change. Later, fire plays a vital and cataclysmic role when Izzy uses it to come to the aid of her friends in the climactic last battle. She sets the Woman’s Book of Despair on fire, releasing her friends from its influence and turning the tide in their favor. Ultimately, this act allows them to defeat her and move forward in their lives—once again a herald of change. These events show that while light can be both creative and destructive, it always represents one value or state of being metamorphosing into another.
