Call Me By Your Name

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2, Pages 66-117

Part 2, Pages 117-163

Part 3

Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Peach

The peach is a symbol of impulsivity and permission to be vulnerable. Elio masturbates into the peach because it reminds him of Oliver. This moment is shocking to Elio because it’s not something he’s done before, and it is, after all, the sexualization of food. The masturbation into the peach is indicative of Elio’s intense desire for Oliver and his inclination that he shouldn’t attempt to control himself. Oliver eats Elio’s discharge out of the peach, which is a major symbolic moment in their relationship. Through this gesture, Oliver shows Elio that there is nothing Elio can do that would embarrass Oliver. This erases shame from their relationship. It gives Elio permission to be vulnerable and experimental. In using a natural metaphor of a fruit that has a definitive life cycle (seed, sapling, and tree giving birth to new fruit), Aciman emphasizes that their love is natural and authentic and will spawn new loves in their lives.

Literature

Literature is a motif in this novel. Elio loves literature and is nurtured in this love by his academic surroundings. His parents are intellectuals, and all their friends and associates are similarly interested in culture, literature, philosophy, music, and art. The bookstore is a symbolic place for Elio. It is a treasured space where he buys his favorite belongings: books. Sharing this space with Oliver is a level of intimacy because it is Elio’s happy place. Buying a book, as he does for both Oliver and Marzia, is indicative of Elio’s affection for a person because of the value he places on books, though Oliver’s is the more significant gift because Elio inscribes it with a secret message.

A tertiary character in this novel is a poet who Elio keeps running into. Elio likes this poet’s work and is drawn to the poet’s social world. This demonstrates that Elio is hopeful for a community that shares his appreciation of literature. This is true of Oliver. Oliver is a scholar of Heraclitus, an Ancient Greek philosopher whose literature leaves much up for debate because of its lack of complete archives. Oliver studies Heraclitus’s language and philosophy without many secondary sources available. Oliver’s connection to literature mirrors Elio’s. They talk about books, which at the start of their flirtations are a safe and innocent topic to connect on.

Youth

Youth is a motif in Call Me By Your Name. Adults are constantly noting Elio’s youth, as though they miss something in their adult lives. The adults at the book party in Rome blame Elio’s happiness on his youth, and Elio’s parents are supportive of Elio taking risks while he is still young. There is an understanding in this novel, though it’s not explicit, that love and passion dissipate as youth turns into adulthood. It is implied that only youth, a time free of responsibilities, can lead to the kind of passionate love that Oliver and Elio share. As people get older and life gets more complicated, the freedoms of youth are replaced with a craving for security or a resigned attitude. But youth is not so easily explained in this novel because the older narrator version of Elio is, in many ways, like the boy he was at 17 years old. In this novel, youth is a currency, a possibility, and a state of mind.