Just for the Summer

Content Warning: This section mentions child neglect.

Roses symbolize both permanence and stability and impermanence and instability. When Amber first appears in person, Emma mentions how “she smelled the way she always did during good times. Like roses […] strong and fresh” (98). The adjectives used to describe the scent represent the stability of Amber’s current mental state. It also represents the childlike hope that Emma harbors that her mother might stay permanently this time around. Emma views the rose scent of Amber’s perfume as a barometer:

[W]hen she stopped putting it on, it meant she was getting closer to disappearing again. When she started losing interest in self-care, she’d start losing interest in everything. Her job, her responsibilities. [Emma]. […] The fading scent of roses would make [her] brace (98).

When the scent of roses disappears, Emma has learned to anticipate impermanence and instability.

Shortly after moving into Neil’s home, Amber paints a large, whimsical mural of bold and beautiful colorful roses. When Emma regards her mother during this scene, she notes Amber’s happiness and is soothed by “the light scent of her rose perfume” (132). The roses are a hopeful sign for Emma who believes that “maybe [Amber] would stay […] Maybe she was doing okay. Getting help. Settling down with age, wanting something steadier” (135-136). Emma begins to wonder what life would be like if Amber married a stable man and became a permanent fixture in her life. Toward the end of the novel, Emma visits Amber’s childhood home, which is filled with roses. They’re carved into the banisters and depicted in its stained-glass windows. Juxtaposed with the unfinished mural at Neil’s, which Amber has long since abandoned, it becomes clear that Emma could have had a stable, permanent, happy upbringing with Amber’s extended family if Amber hadn’t purposefully kept Emma from them.

Finally, the rosebush that Justin gives Emma is a symbol of both their relationship and her healing trauma. When he notices that the roses Amber gave Emma are rotting, he gives her a rosebush: a plant that will continue to grow and produce blooms, rather than wilting and dying the way Amber’s cut roses do. Emma is troubled by the rosebush at first because its need to be planted someplace permanent conflicts with the nomadic lifestyle she uses to avoid long-term relationships. As she falls in love with Justin, she finally decides to plant the rosebush in his garden, where it grows as she addresses her trauma before finally embracing Justin and stability permanently.