Symbolism in Walk Two Moons
by Rhett Curtis
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech is about a girl named Sal who takes a rode trip across the country from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents to visit her mother's grave. During the drive, she tells her grandparents about her friend Phoebe Winterbottom, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.
In this novel, Sharon Creech placed certain objects or ideas to symbolize somehting more deep and meaningful.
Hair
Hair is one of these symbolisms. It represents connection to family. "My mother's hair had been long and black, like mine, but a week before she left, she cut it. My father said to me 'Don't cut yours, Sal. Please don't cut yours.'" (p. 92). Since hair represents connection to family, this was hinting that she would leave home and cut off her connection to them. "'Did you notice her hair? She's cut it.'"(p. 240). At this point in the story, Sal and Phoebe have discovered Mrs. Winterbottom and the lunatic together and during the time she went to find the lunatic, who was actually her biological son, she cut her hair, symbolizing there would be an altering to their family connection.
Tulips
Tulips symolizes a new life in Walk Two Moons. "' We'll bury the baby in the little cemetery near the aspen grove-where the tulips come up every spring.'" (p. 149). They also named the baby tulip. This was a still-born baby and it changed their lives because they were expecting a healthy baby but it was a traumatization to them and it changed their lives. "' Oh meet me, in the tulips, when the tulips do blooom-" (p. 78) This said frequently in the book, this time it was said by Gram when they were talking about Gram and Gramps' wedding, which obviously changed their lives but Sal's mother said "I'll be back when the tulips bloom" before she left, which represents that their lives would changed significantly.
trees
In this novel, trees symbolize connection to Sal's mom. "I prayed to trees. This was easier than praying directly to God. There was nearly always a tree nearby." (p. 7). When it says that there is "nearly always a tree nearby" that means that Sal feels alone and was thinking God hasn't always been at her side because her mother wouldn't have died if he was. "She took several quick steps up to the trunk of the maple, threw her arms around it, and kissed that tree soundly." (p. 122) After her mother did that, Sal went up to the tree and kissed it too. Sal believes that her mother and her love is in the trees and so she loves them just like her mother.
Hair, tulips and trees all symbolize something in Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. In the book she subtly places these ideas without adding too much extra. This is a very great book and I hope to read it again.