Climbing as Motif

Throughout the entirety of the novel, the author uses climbing as a metaphor, and thus a motif. Because images, scenes, and descriptions of climbing feature so heavily throughout the narrative, Sam’s climbing pastime gains increasing symbolic significance. The more time she spends and the more energy she devotes to climbing, the more climbing appears representative of life’s trials and troubles. When she is young, Sam enjoys climbing doorframes and trees. Climbing is a hobby and an escape. However, after her father introduces her to bouldering, Sam begins to develop climbing as a skill. Beginning at the end of Chapter 15, Sam’s relationship with and understanding of climbing begins to shift. During one of her tournaments, the narrator says “The wall seems to her the only person left. She is fighting the wall with all her strength and all her pain, her fingers...