Where Butterflies Wander

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death and mental illness.

“That fleeting glance often plays in my mind, the happenstance of me turning the bend at the exact moment you and your mother were collecting water. Though when I reflect on it, I’m certain it wasn’t random chance at all, but providence, God’s hand on destiny. How else do you explain what followed, the intertwining of our fates?”

Long before Davina and Marie’s family meet, musings on The Nature of Fate and Chance can be found in Rosalinda’s last letter to Davina. She suggests that the precision of timing involved in her meeting Davina was fate because if the circumstances were even slightly different, she may never have seen Davina. This passage establishes the idea of fate interceding to bring people together, which carries throughout the novel.

“I saw it before the car stopped, a flutter of blue beside the barn, and my heart leaped. When Mom said we were spending the summer in New Hampshire, I was worried Bee wouldn’t know where we’d gone. But there she was, waiting.”

Penelope perceives that a butterfly is her deceased twin sister, Bee, believing Bee to be watching and guiding her even in death. Penelope’s attachment to Bee was stronger than anyone’s, and for her, Death and the Grieving Process manifests in a unique form, driving the pathos of her character. Her inner monologue here shows the reader that Penelope is anxious about leaving the place where Bee lived and died but has not shared this with her family. This also highlights her isolation now that her twin sister is dead. The fact that Penelope sees the butterfly the moment the family arrives at the house foreshadows how much Bee’s influence will continue to affect the family’s lives and that they cannot outrun her death or their grief.