40 pages • 1 hour read
So Much Water So Close to Home
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Symbols & Motifs
Rivers and Water
Content Warning: This section of the guide references the graphic murders of women and features ambiguously consensual sex as well as general misogyny.
Rivers, and therefore water, are a source of danger closely associated with Gender Norms’ Harmful Effects on Women. This association first appears when the men discover the woman’s body at the Naches River. They ultimately take steps to prevent her body from being washed away by the river, suggesting that it acts as another predator capable of erasing the woman’s existence. The Naches furthers the gender divide, as it is a territory occupied and controlled by men, while women are outsiders and intruders. Claire associates rivers with violence against women, recalling the murder of a girl whose body was recovered from the Cle Elum River when she was young herself (83); that the body was headless reinforces the link between water and loss of not only life but also identity. Claire tells Stuart this as they sit on the bank of Everson Creek, but he is unfazed. She then “look[s] at the creek” to find herself “right in it, eyes open, face down, staring at the moss on the bottom, dead” (83). Now Stuart too symbolizes danger for Claire, as he is associated with rivers.
On the day Claire drives to the funeral, she is calmed by the natural world that surrounds her until the river comes into view: “Then everything changes, more like shacks than farmhouses and stands of timber instead of orchards. Then mountains, and on the right, far below, I sometimes see the Naches River” (85). Claire cannot quell the suspicion that Stuart bears responsibility for the woman’s death, and the presence of the river serves as a reminder.
The story’s closing scene drives the symbol home as Claire hears “water going” as she and Stuart engage in sex (88). Stuart has become synonymous with rivers and thus will be an ongoing threat in Claire’s life.
The Man in the Pickup Truck
Claire’s fear of men and assumption that all men are potential sources of danger comes to a head as she drives to the funeral. Claire attempts to deter the truck that seems to be following her, but to no avail: “I keep slowing at the wrong times, hoping he will pass. Then I speed up. But this is at the wrong times too” (86). Any action Claire attempts only places her, in her mind, at greater risk. Because the driver of the truck is male, Claire is certain he is dangerous and seeks to harm her. The threat, she believes, is sexual, as the man “looks at [her] breasts, [her] legs” (86), and Claire definitively “can tell that’s what he’s doing” (86). While the driver insists he intends no harm, his addressing her as “sugar” suggests his casual assumption that women are sexual objects, available to men at all times.
Claire hopes to ensure her safety by remaining locked in her car, but she becomes increasingly panicked as the encounter continues. When the man invades her space by “bring[ing] his face to the window” (86), she attempts to stand her ground and locks the door. The episode illustrates that the world is a dangerous place for women and that they possess little control over men’s urges.
Alcohol
Alcohol provides Stuart with both a distraction and a coping mechanism and underscores traditional masculinity. Throughout the story, he drinks either beer or whiskey—both consistent with the rugged, emotionless manliness that Stuart and his buddies seek to embody. Alcohol frequently fuels the disconnect between him and Claire, as Stuart’s typical response to Claire bringing up the subject of the dead woman is to escape with a can of beer. When Claire asks Stuart if they might take a drive, he views this as an opportunity to buy more beer rather than as meaningful time with a loved one. When Claire returns from the funeral of the murdered woman, she finds Stuart “at the table with a drink of whiskey in front of him” (87). This solidifies both the lack of sympathy he feels for the dead woman and his disregard for his wife’s fearfulness. His own escapism takes priority over the safety of others, especially women.
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