Butterflies

Butterflies in this novel represent transformation and freedom. Apart from the title, there are a few other important references to butterflies. When the practice of ritualized servitude is outlawed in Ukemby, Duma rips up the newspaper that announces the news. When the pieces flutter through the fields, one of the girls at the shrine at first believes they are butterflies. Abeo looks up and, for a moment, feels a pinch of hope. When Abeo first sees Taylor in a market, she feels butterflies in her chest. Later, when Abeo is freed and graduates from the Eden Rehabilitation Center, she wears a butterfly broach pinned to her dress.

Butterflies accompany Abeo during her journey and signify the transformation of trauma into strength and beauty. References to butterflies occur in this novel when the veil of trauma and numbness is lifted and characters once again begin to hope...