We were the wives he’d never know. The mothers he wished he’d had.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Truman's entire life is spent compensating for his lack of a mother figure. Denied the love he desired as a child, Truman searches for a mother and lover in his Swans, even labeling them as "Big Mama" or Mamacita." The Swans are, to him, the wives and mothers with whom he could have intimate relationships. The mother or lover figure that Truman lack represents a desire for intimacy and closeness that he was denied as a child. Throughout Swan Song, the reader sees Truman searching for this kind of love in the people he meets, bestowing upon them both the title and responsibility of caretaker.

I’m unlovable. No one could ever love me the way I want to be loved.
-- Truman (chapter 2)

Importance: Throughout Swan Song, Truman is searching for the love he was denied as a...