61 pages • 2 hours read
Lisa ScottolineThe Truth about the Devlins
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
Stuffing It
Throughout the novel, TJ represses his emotions, a habit since childhood that he refers to as “stuffing.” This term becomes a motif throughout the novel, as TJ stuffs everything from emotions to the truth. At the beginning of the novel, Paul assumes that TJ and John suddenly leave his birthday party because TJ is in trouble. As a result, he snubs TJ, who responds in the same way he has since childhood: “I told myself he hadn’t heard me. That’s quality stuffing, right there” (22). Even when he is angry with John, his first instinct is to repress his emotions: “My anger at him resurfaced when I saw his thumbnail photo on my phone, but I tried to stuff my resentment while the call connected” (54).
TJ knows that this habit isn’t a good thing: “I’m good at stuffing my feelings, though apparently it’s a bad thing to be good at” (11). Over the course of the story, TJ grows by putting this habit aside, letting his emotions and the truth come forward so that he can confront and deal with them. This motif also connects with his alcohol addiction—from an early age, TJ found an outlet for the feelings he couldn’t let out through drinking. Therefore, stopping this habit is also important to his recovery, connecting to the theme of The Journey from Addiction to Recovery.
The biggest shift in this behavior comes when John betrays him, and instead of repressing his feelings and response, TJ “[feels] angry and [doesn’t] try to stuff it” (132). This is a turning point for TJ and signals that he is moving past his idealization of his brother.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill is one of Paul’s heroes, and he has taught his children all about the man: “Thanks to my father, we knew more about Winston Churchill than most Americans. Or Brits. Or historians” (20). Churchill is a motif throughout the novel that illuminates the principles the Devlin family operates by. Winston Churchill was the British prime minister during World War II, and the Devlins rely on his speeches and writings to bolster themselves in times of stress. When Gabby is doubting herself with the Holmesburg case, she and TJ recite a famous Churchill speech to motivate her.
The Devlins’ preoccupation with Churchill also illustrates the power dynamic of the family. Paul admires Churchill and so indoctrinates his children accordingly. This is not to say that the children don’t find Churchill’s principles useful; however, as the novel continues, the family begins to recognize the limitations of Churchill’s words. The quote they use most often is “When you’re going through hell, keep going” (80), but when their lives get messier and more complicated, Marie points out that “Churchill doesn’t say how to get through hell” (310). Marie offers the Italian poet Dante Alighieri as another source of wisdom, and the family’s adoption of this strategy reflects Marie’s movement into her new role as head of the family.
Dante’s Divine Comedy
If Churchill is the dominant historical figure for the Devlins at the beginning of the novel, by the end, Dante has taken his place. The motif of Dante Alighieri and his work The Divine Comedy runs throughout the novel, driven by Marie’s interest in the man and his text. Marie has been interested in Dante for years and has a collection of Dante’s works in her office, which she considers the only space that is hers alone.
Unlike Churchill, whose example the family uses to motivate themselves, Dante is more interested in probing the human experience, even at its darkest. As the novel continues and the family’s experience becomes darker and more complicated, Dante becomes a more helpful reference point for them, offering not just encouraging words but wisdom. Dante helps Marie see John’s actions for what they are, telling TJ, “[Dante] loathed men who manipulate, steal, and lie—all the things my own son did” (310). However, she continues, “Dante doesn’t feel scorn for sinners. He sees how they suffer and knows they’re human beings who make mistakes” (310). Citing Dante, she tells the family that the way to get through John’s betrayal is with “love and compassion,” offering them a concrete way to move forward at a challenging time.
The family’s shift in interest from Churchill to Dante also shows how the power dynamic in the family has shifted—while Churchill is Paul’s hero, Dante is Marie’s. Beyond showing a shift in their fundamental perspective on life, the motif also shows how Marie, who has always created order in the family from behind the scenes, has now stepped forward and revealed herself to be the true leader of the family.
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By Lisa Scottoline
