58 pages • 1 hour read
Natalie SueI Hope This Finds You Well
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
Digital Communication
As Jolene gains access to other’s private digital communications, including emails and chat messages, she learns information about her coworkers that she could never know otherwise. For instance, she learns about Rhonda’s attempts at dating, Armin’s fake engagement, Caitlin’s plans for earning a promotion over Jolene, and Gregory’s extramarital affair. At first, Jolene succumbs to the temptation to use her newfound access selfishly, as she seeks to enhance her job security.
Over time, however, she finds that increased insight into her coworkers’ lives leads her to develop empathy and compassion for those whom she previously judged, including Rhonda, Armin, and Caitlin. The digital communications she reads and reacts to thus serve as proxies or symbols of all the thoughts and feelings that are normally hidden from view. This supports Natalie Sue’s larger discussion of Judgment Versus Empathy, showing that, as a general rule, prejudice thrives in ignorance, while understanding leads to compassion.
Baked Goods
Throughout the novel, various forms of baked goods serve as a currency of goodwill within Jolene’s office. As a nod to North American office culture, this motif gently underscores both the occasional superficiality of business relationships as well as the need for real friendship and connection. As Cliff seeks to ingratiate himself to Jolene and others, he frequently offers donuts. At first, Jolene sees Cliff’s donuts as an attempt to win her over, but she gradually recognizes Cliff’s sincerity. Jolene’s suspicion of Cliff may stem from her own view of baked goods as tasty but ultimately empty icons of corporate approval; on her birthday, she dreads, among other things, the prospect of “dry sheet cake” (1). Later, Jolene uses scones to create a diversion when she wants to hide her phone in the boardroom to record a meeting between Cliff and Gregory.
As time passes, however, Jolene comes to appreciate Cliff’s habit of offering her donuts, which continues even after the two have left Supershops. Overall, while the occasional pastry is not enough to make working for Supershops tenable, when they are given and received in good faith, they can pave the way for human connection.
Sticky Notes
As ubiquitous accessories within the office environment, sticky notes function as a contrasting form of recording information, compared to digital formats. Rhonda, for instance, uses lots of physical notes, including sticky notes, which she prefers to digital communication. Jolene, similarly, uses sticky notes to record thoughts, passwords, and goals, which she stores in and around her desk. Ironically, it is Jolene’s physical paper trail, including her sticky notes, that reveals the extent of her duplicity to Cliff in the end, as he sees a sticky note indicating her goal to win him over in her quest for job security, among other things.
Cliff is also an occasional note writer, as when he includes a note saying “Not poison :)” on top of the donuts he gifts to Jolene and her coworkers (86). Later, when Cliff returns Jolene’s belongings after she is fired from Supershops, he includes a note with a drawing of a cat as well as a simple compliment: “You’re brave” (323). Overall, sticky notes within the text symbolize the significance of analogue formats, even in the digital age.
Joey the Fern
Named after the character Joey Tribbiani from the popular American sitcom FRIENDS, Joey is the name Rhonda gives to a fern that she cares for. In fact, the fern was once located on Jolene’s desk, but Rhonda took the fern without asking Jolene’s permission, which Jolene resents. Armin also takes an apparent dislike to the plant, which he poisons with Gatorade when Rhonda isn’t looking, which leaves the plant in a state of perpetually poor health. Jolene speculates that Armin started doing so after Rhonda threw away some of his Persian food, thinking that it smelled bad even though it was fresh.
Given this context, Joey’s nickname is ironic, as the plant’s treatment demonstrates the lack of friendship within the office. Instead, Joey serves as a focal point illustrating the way that resentment builds over time and symbolizes the literal deterioration of relationships that are not properly nurtured.
