48 pages • 1 hour read
Wild Eyes
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Symbols & Motifs
Rose Hill
Rose Hill is symbolic of home and belonging. Skylar Stone flees her life in Los Angeles to come to this rural town in the Canadian Rockies because she’s tired of “staring into a camera blankly, feeling like [her] lungs are full of concrete and [her] throat is swollen shut” (22). In Rose Hill, she can breathe freely for the first time. The fresh mountain air, the local lakes, the “backcountry road[s],” and the calming atmosphere of Weston (West) Belmont’s private ranch offer her peace of mind for the first time in years (20). When she first sees West’s house, she notes that it “looks like a proper childhood home, or at least what [she] always imagined one to be like” (37). The house has a “wraparound deck,” “patio furniture,” kids’ toys in the yard, “a gigantic elm tree,” and “a rope swing” (37). This idyllic setting offers Skylar a form of safety and security that she has always lacked.
Furthermore, the relationships that Skylar makes in Rose Hill solidify her sense of belonging there. When she returns to the town after her brief trip to LA, she feels relieved to come back to the idyllic natural landscape, but she especially welcomes the prospect of returning to West, his children, and her new colleagues, Ford and Rosalie. These new relationships make her feel “secure in [her]self for the first time” (356).
“Photosynthesis”
Skylar’s hit single, “Photosynthesis,” is symbolic of authenticity. When Skylar releases the song, it becomes wildly popular. Unlike Skylar’s previous work, “Photosynthesis” is “swampy and stripped down” and has “Dolly Parton vibes” (340). In the past, Skylar never wrote her own lyrics and relied on autotune. With her single, she presents a song that is entirely her own. While “Photosynthesis” is “not danceable,” Skylar describes it as “me. Sitting on a stool, mic in hand, sharing my secrets. And it’s the first song I’ve ever released that I love” (340). Skylar is attached to the song because it feels true to her. The lyrics express what she has been going through and how she has changed since coming to Rose Hill. The honesty of the lyrics mirrors the raw nature of the accompaniment—both of which capture Skylar’s authentic self. The song title creates a metaphor from the biological process by which plants convert sunlight into food and energy, suggesting that Skylar has finally learned to create her own happiness, thereby sustaining her life on her terms.
Skylar’s Earrings
Skylar’s earrings are symbolic of unwanted aspects of the past. Before coming to Rose Hill, Skylar’s life is defined by luxury, wealth, and fame. She lives the life of a celebrity because she has grown up in the spotlight. The earrings were a gift from her ex-boyfriend, Andrew McCann, who was only dating her because his father hired him to do so. This arrangement was meant to boost Skylar’s reputation in the public eye. When West comments on the earrings in Chapter 8, Skylar suddenly “want[s] them off [her] body” because “[t]hey feel dirty” and “make [her] feel dirty” (102). They are a reminder of the life she has been forced to live: the life that she is trying to abandon. By removing the earrings, she is removing the burden of her past. Near the novel’s end, Skylar sells the earrings and puts the resulting proceeds toward West’s kids’ futures. The money “from each one [goes] into an education savings account”(396) for Emmy and Oliver. In this way, Skylar uses the earrings to turn a negative part of her past into something positive.
Skylar’s Phone
Skylar’s phone is symbolic of entrapment. When Skylar first arrives in Rose Hill, she cannot stop checking her phone, even when all she receives is a relentless string of Google alerts with disparaging headlines about her life and character. In Chapter 3, one of the alerts mentions her “freshly minted ex out at Nobu with some hot model” (36), and the “headline reads “Skylar Scorned” (36). Such alerts disrupt Skylar’s peace of mind and keep her from moving forward with her own life. She also receives constant messages from her father and her agent Jerry, who want to know her whereabouts and dictate her future. These messages also intensify Skylar’s anxiety, psychologically trapping her in her old lifestyle despite her physical distance from the city. When West throws Skylar’s phone into the water, he is trying to liberate her. He wants her to stop obsessing over others’ opinions and to focus on the present instead. Over time, Skylar feels freer without her phone. She doesn’t have the constant reminders of her life in LA and therefore becomes better able to discover herself on her own terms.
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