Summer Sisters

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of child abuse, sexual abuse, grooming, and suicidal ideation.

The Vineyard symbolizes a magical and magnetic place. About Vix, the narrator says, “With summer, the problems of the world, her world anyway, magically lifted from her shoulders” (90). On the island, Vix transforms. The financial and familial difficulties of her New Mexico life vanish, and she rejoins Caitlin’s family and becomes Caitlin’s “summer sister.” The magic also applies to Caitlin, who becomes a different person when she isn’t there: “I have another life at Mountain Day, a life apart from the two of us” (113). Detached from the island, Caitlin becomes someone else.

The magic never leaves Vix and Caitlin entirely. Their bond transcends the island, and they are still in contact when they’re not on the island. Still, the Vineyard cements their relationship—it’s the source of their bond. The island also represents safety, perhaps due to its relative isolation and small population. Despite Abby fretting about their unsupervised exploits, they don’t experience any significant trouble and are free to experiment.

As the island brings Vix and Caitlin together, it symbolizes a magnetic place. Vix and Caitlin leave it, but they inevitably return.