40 pages • 1 hour read
Liane MoriartyThree Wishes
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Triplicity
The Kettle girls present an interesting identity problem in that they are triplets. The anonymous observers who appear so frequently in the text always notice them first because of their outer resemblance to one another. Their physical actions occasionally synchronize at well, as noted by the observer who sees them diving into the ocean in one fluid motion like a school of dolphins. This view of the girls suggests perfect unity, while those closer to them see the disparity and chaos generated by their triplicity. The number three is overpowering to Maxine. When she’s confronted with the task of feeding three screaming infants at the same time, she breaks down in tears. As the girls get a little older, another observer sees Maxine vainly trying to shepherd them together after one bites another, and they all go flying off in different directions.
The girls themselves possess distinct personalities. Lyn is the dutiful overachiever. Cat is also an overachiever, but her emotional intensity and dark moods contrast sharply with Lyn’s martyred acceptance of reality. Gemma isn’t like either of her siblings. Her lack of physical similarity to the other two creates so much personal confusion that she can’t create a distinct identity for herself. Despite their disparate temperaments, the sisters seem to share a meta-identity based on the mere fact that they are triplets. This bond asserts its preeminence over every other relationship in their lives. All the men with whom they are linked soon learn that getting involved with any one of the three is a package deal. The glue that holds the Kettle girls together has very little to do with personal compatibility or even the fact that they are sisters. They are triplets, and that’s all that matters in the end.
Holding On and Letting Go
All three Kettle sisters are faced with circumstances that require one of two polarized reactions: holding on or letting go. Cat and Lyn, the identical twins, share an identical problem. Neither one knows how to let go of situations that are detrimental to their happiness. Lyn needs to control every moment of her day to such a degree that it eventually causes panic attacks. The fact that she has these attacks when trying to find her way out of parking garages underscores her fear of losing her way. One drives a car to a specific destination just as Lyn tries to drive her life toward a set of predetermined goals. She gets lost in both cases but refuses to loosen her grip on the wheel.
Cat is even more driven to arrange her life in a specific pattern. When Dan disrupts Cat’s assumptions, hell hath no fury like her desire to make everything go back to the way it was. Dan’s betrayal forces Cat to reassess the reality she has constructed for them. Her miscarriage further derails her sense of control over all aspects of her life. In fact, she envies Lynn for her ability to pencil conception onto her To-Do list and make it happen on time. Cat descends into depression and petty revenge because she can’t let go of the life she planned in advance. She spends all her time looking back bitterly at a time when she had everything under control. She can’t move forward until she can let go of the past.
Just as Gemma contrasts physically with her sisters, her coping mechanism is the opposite of theirs. Instead of gripping everything too tightly, she doesn’t hold on at all. Her relationship with Marcus was so traumatic that she’s deathly afraid of committing to a lasting romantic relationship for fear that she might be trapped again. It isn’t until she claims both her baby and Charlie that she learns how to hold on.
Fluid Identities
The Kettle sisters share a meta-identity as triplets but display different individual personalities. Three Wishes explores the degree to which changing life circumstances can reshape identity as well. When Maxine was a teenager, she was relatively easygoing and calm. The birth of three daughters turned her into a cold, controlling parent because she had to compensate for the sheer number of her offspring and a husband who was too lackadaisical to exert any control over the situation. In her later years, Maxine mellows out again.
Lyn describes herself as calm and peaceful during her twenties. She changes radically after Marcus dies and transforms herself into the family workaholic to compensate for her inability to help Gemma. Starting her own company only accelerates her drive to stay on top of things, as does raising a rebellious teenager and a hyperactive toddler. Lyn’s panic attacks function as a wake-up call that she needs to trust others and let herself off the hook.
Cat’s identity goes through major upheaval when she can no longer define herself as a wife or potential mother. She takes a particularly bitter view of her new circumstances and describes herself as a beaten loser. Cat can’t allow herself to move forward because to do so would make her appear pathetic in her own eyes. Her competitive streak is so destructive that she competes internally with an idealized vision of her past self. It isn’t until Cat has the epiphany that moving forward is a way of fighting back that she can channel her energy constructively and become a kinder version of her previous self.
Gemma is also changed by circumstances. In her twenties, she is trusting and holds a steady job as a teacher. Her relationship with Marcus is so devastating that Gemma loses what little grounding she had and begins to float through life. She house-sits for others because she can’t construct a home of her own. Her breakthrough arrives when she forgives herself for the mistake that was Marcus. This epiphany turns her into a moderately assertive woman who decides that her son and Charlie are worth keeping.
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By Liane Moriarty
