Every Summer After

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-14

Chapter 15-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

The Friendship Bracelet

The friendship bracelet that Percy makes for Sam is an important recurring symbol of connection. Sam asks her to make one for him the first time that they meet and requests one in the same colors as hers. This points to Sam and Percy’s immediate connection and his easy acceptance of her. Sam’s offer of friendship and request for a bracelet contrasts with Delilah’s destruction of her friendship bracelet and ostracization of Percy.

Sam and Percy never take off their bracelets, symbolizing their lasting friendship. The woven friendship bracelet is contrasted with the silver bracelet that Mason gifts Percy, which she begins to wear once they make their relationship official. The showiness of the silver bracelet reflects the superficial nature of Percy and Mason’s relationship: She is largely dating him to make Sam jealous.

Years later, Sam gives Percy the friendship bracelet as a consolation prize for her attempt to swim across the lake. Sam gifting her the bracelet despite her being unable to complete the swim symbolizes his willingness to try again at their relationship despite the past hurt. The bracelet represents the inextricable link of Sam and Percy’s friendship and romantic love, pointing to the theme of Friendship as the Foundation of First Love. At the end of the novel, when Percy plans to propose to Sam, she does so with a ring made of the same embroidery floss that she used to make the bracelet. This act completes the bracelet’s evolution from a representation of childhood friendship to a recognizable symbol of eternal love.

Horror Stories and Movies

Horror stories and movies are a recurring motif in the book. Initially, they are associated with Percy; Fortune presents Percy’s love for them as a personality quirk or trait. However, over time, they become something that she shares with Sam. Whereas horror movies cause a rift between Percy and Delilah when they are young, after Delilah wets herself when watching The Evil Dead at Percy’s suggestion, Sam accepts Percy’s tastes without judgment and enthusiastically begins to watch horror movies with her.

When Percy begins writing horror fiction, Sam becomes her first reader. The fact that she shares her stories with Sam and not with Mason, even when she is dating the latter, shows how close and important Sam is to her. “Young Blood,” the story she writes that earns her a place in the writer’s workshop, is dedicated to Sam.

Because watching horror movies evolves from something personal to something shared with Sam, Percy finds herself unable to watch them in the years that they are apart. Sam feels the same way; he buys a large collection of movies that he is never able to watch. He later realizes that he was subconsciously collecting them for Percy.

The movies also mark important moments in Percy and Sam’s relationship. Watching a horror movie alone is what prompts a scared teenage Percy to stay over at Sam’s, leading to their first kiss. Similarly, Percy watches a horror movie with Charlie at the drive-in just before they sleep together; sharing something with Charlie that she previously reserved for Sam foreshadows the further intimacies that will follow.

When Percy returns to Barry’s Bay, she and Sam watch a movie together for the first time in years. The comfort and nostalgia of this moment helps Sam to fall asleep peacefully, despite the fact that he has recently been struggling with insomnia. Watching the horror movie also precedes the two of them having sex the next day. Finally, when Percy proposes to Sam, she plans to have a horror movie playing in the background. In this way, horror movies and stories help to thread the theme of Friendship and First Love throughout the narrative and highlight different points in Percy and Sam’s relationship.

Swimming Across the Lake

Swimming across the lake is another recurring motif throughout the book, which is also linked to the theme of Friendship and First Love. The lake is the place where Percy first glimpses the Florek brothers, and it becomes the setting for Percy and Sam’s childhood friendship to blossom into young love. The lake plays a role in helping Percy and Sam to bond: The first time that Percy speaks to Sam, she agrees to spend time with him if he teaches her how to somersault off the raft. The two grow close during the time they spend swimming in the lake, going out on the raft or in the boat, and even skinny-dipping. However, swimming across the lake becomes a special ritual for Percy, and she trains for it with Sam’s help. The summer that Percy first swims across the lake is also the summer that she becomes acutely aware of her romantic feelings for Sam.

Percy’s swims across the lake mirror the pace or state of her relationship with Sam. The first time, she only just makes it across, but each consecutive summer it gets easier. Percy’s increasing strength and speed reflect her growing closeness with Sam. The summer that Percy and Sam make their relationship official, Percy also joins the swim team at school. Extending her swimming from the lake to her life outside of Barry’s Bay symbolizes how Sam has become a part of Percy’s everyday existence, outside of the summer.

It is significant that the summer before college, Percy swims across the lake twice: once with Sam and once again with Charlie. Sharing an activity with Charlie that she previously only did with Sam foreshadows that Percy will also share other kinds of intimacy with the older Florek brother. Following the swim with Charlie, Percy doesn’t try to swim across the lake for 12 years, until she returns to Barry’s Bay for Sue’s funeral. As an adult, Percy struggles to make it even halfway, and Sam has to rescue her. Percy’s inability to complete the swim represents the current challenges to her and Sam’s relationship, which was left damaged for many years. In turn, Sam rescuing Percy symbolizes his continued love for her. In another connected, symbolic act, Sam presents Percy with the friendship bracelet as a consolation prize for her attempt to swim across the lake, showing his willingness to try again at their relationship.