52 pages • 1 hour read
Emery LordWhen We Collided
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A 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
Permanent Marks
Permanent marks are a frequent motif in the novel. Vivi leaves these marks in seemingly random places all throughout the book. They symbolize Vivi’s desire to be remembered as well as her love for a thing, person, and place. Her go to phrase “Vivi was here” can be found carved into a tree, in a slip of paper buried in the Daniels’ flowerbed, scratched into Jonah’s headboard, and painted in the mural at Tony’s Bistro. When Jonah asks Vivi why she leaves her calling card everywhere, she says:
Because it’s all so fleeting, isn’t it? The ocean existed so long before us and will stay long after us—most trees, too, and some animals. Isn’t that crazy? My dress collection will live longer than I ever will. […] I’m just looking for some kind of permanence, so my mark will linger on the world once I’m gone, in the places where I found joy (62).
Vivi understands and dreads the ephemeral nature of human existence. She is afraid of not leaving a mark on the world after she has passed away. In order to combat the intertwined fears of namelessness and fleetingness, Vivi leaves her stamp on things that bring her joy. Outside of Verona Cove and Jonah’s home, Vivi frequently marks Jonah himself. Jonah brings Vivi joy and with every kiss, she is “determined enough to leave a red smudge across his mouth” (55).
The sight of Jonah with “smudges of [her] red lipstick across his mouth” (101) entices Vivi and speaks to her need to leave a permanent impression on the things, places, and people that bring her joy. Her mark on Jonah goes far deeper than lipstick and notes, however. The mural that Vivi paints for the restaurant finally allows Jonah to accept his father’s death, and her friendship has taught him how to find “happiness even in uncertainty” (232), something he was unable to do before meeting her.
Food
Lord uses food as a symbol for love, affection, and care. This is most evident when Jonah makes food for the people he cares about. Jonah cooks meals for his family every night and after his first date with Vivi, he makes her a packed lunch. Although Jonah is not adept at communicating his feelings, he manifests his emotions into acts of kindness, i.e., into delicious food. After Vivi’s accident, for example, Jonah is at a loss for what to do. Ultimately, Jonah gives Vivi a “cherry pie, with a side of devotion and forgiveness” (213). Not only does Jonah find solace in cooking and feel closer with his deceased father, but he also uses food to represent all the concern and affection he is unable to vocalize. For example, after Tony Daniels’ death, Jonah begins obsessively making oatmeal, a heart-healthy food, for his family:
Now I make oatmeal almost every morning for my brothers and sisters. They seem to understand that I have to do something. […] I’m not sure if shoving the maximum amount of oats down all my siblings’ throats is the best heart-health plan, but it’s better than nothing (75).
Jonah’s love for his family and his worries about their health manifest through cooking. Numerous times throughout the novel, Jonah brings food or tea to his mother as an excuse to speak to her. Mrs. Daniels also attempts to bake cookies for her children; even in her grief-stricken and depressed state, she tries to convey her love for her family with food.
Nature
Lord describes the settings in When We Collided with great detail. Outside of the scenic aesthetic surroundings of Verona Coves, the descriptions of nature are often intimately intertwined with Vivi’s emotions and feelings. Vivi often describes herself in terms of things found in nature. At the peak of Vivi’s mania, for example, she compares herself to the changing sea: “The ocean echoes my sounds against its waters, I know it does, because even the ocean recognizes that I am a wild creature, a spirit child of a vast and star-drunk world” (86).
Vivi is scared of her own mortality, of how fleeting human existence is. Her connection with the great unknown and the permanence of the ocean and sky are thus in line with her characterization. Vivi often identifies with nature as well. She believes herself to have been a patch of clouds in a past life, and she tells Jonah that he was once a tree with deep roots. When their relationship ends, Vivi attempts to comfort Jonah:
Maybe in my next life, I’ll be a wave in the ocean, and you’ll be a mountain, and we’ll spend years and years brushing up against each other. You’ll shift so painfully slowly, and some days I’ll crash right into you and other days I’ll approach gently, licking your sides (229).
Vivi does not only see herself as a part of nature, but she also sees the wilderness inside herself. This recurring motif exemplifies Vivi’s desperate search for permanence.
