44 pages • 1 hour read
Miracles on Maple Hill
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Maple Hill
Humans find a strong sense of identity in the places they live. Towns, neighborhoods, and even homes play a pivotal role in a person’s sense of self. In her novel, Miracles at Maple Hill, Virginia Sorensen uses the small town of Maple Hill to create a sense of identity for the main characters and symbolize the power of memory, community, and renewal. The novel opens with Marly begging her mother to retell her favorite story about Grandma. Maple Hill is an important part of Lee’s identity as she holds fond memories of her time spent there with Grandma. She has passed along those memories to her daughter, and Marly feels as though Maple Hill is a part of her as well. Mother remembers Maple Hill with a sense of nostalgia and wonderment as she states, “I was certain that Maple Hill was the place where all the miracles had happened” (12). The family arrives at Maple Hill hopeful that it is still a place where miracles are possible. As the family settles in, everything about Maple Hill is new to Marly, Joe, and Daddy. However, every inch of the house and property stirs up memories for Lee. Maple Hill represents nostalgia and a fondness for the past for Lee, while the rest of her family sees it as a novel adventure allowing them to make new memories that hopefully one day they can pass on to others in their turn.
Daddy arrives at Maple Hill intent on living a solitary existence, but he quickly realizes that the town is built on friendship and community and rarely spends a minute alone once they connect with the Chrises and Fritz. Their experience of Maple Hill is the opposite of the isolation they felt in the city. From the moment the family arrives, the Chrises surround them with support and friendship. Their gatherings in the sugar camp are not claustrophobic or smothering, but cozy and nurturing. Living in the community teaches Marly’s family that they don’t have to do everything in life alone. With the support and love of others, they can survive and thrive in a rural environment. Mr. Chris empowers them with knowledge and hope and shows them how a simpler life can be rich and fulfilling. Maple Hill symbolizes the beauty of a fresh start and the possibilities that lie on the other side of stepping out on faith, taking a risk, and being willing to accept help. Before arriving in Maple Hill, Marly had built up the image of the home in her mind as a place of magic, and when she first sees the house, she is disappointed by its plain, worn exterior. However, by the end of the novel, Marly has come to realize that the real magic in Maple Hill doesn’t lie within the physical structures but in the minds and hearts of its people.
Syrup
The novel takes its name from the maple trees that populate the narrative and provide sustenance and income for the families living nearby. Marly and her family arrive in the middle of the sap collection season and can’t help but be drawn into the mystery and magic of turning clear, tasteless sap into sweet maple syrup. Syrup and its creation become a motif throughout the narrative as Marly’s family, under Mr. Chris’s tutelage, learns the ancient craft of creating syrup. The syrup also comes to symbolize humans’ connection to nature, the power of transformation, and the beauty of building a community around shared tradition. Creating maple syrup entrances Marly from the beginning, and she finds magic and miracles in every step of the process. She even romanticizes the collection of buckets, which are described as hanging on the trees “like charm bracelets” (21). Marly is enchanted by the miraculous notion that sap flows from the trees and brings nourishment and joy to humans.
Just as tapping the trees teaches Marly about the riches found in nature, the grueling process of making the syrup becomes a metaphor for enduring the inevitable trials of life. The process of transforming the sap into syrup is labor-intensive and requires tremendous patience. Marly therefore learns the value of hard work as she exhausts herself by collecting hundreds of gallons of sap that will boil down to a small amount of precious syrup. Just as heat and pressure condense the sap into a sweet elixir, Marly learns that when humans are pressed with adversity, they become stronger, better versions of themselves. The creation of something new and wonderful from something else symbolizes the redemptive power of transformation. Marly and her family enjoy the taste of maple syrup, but more than the product itself, they value the community and tradition of making syrup. When they learn the process from Mr. Chris, he imparts upon them a timeless tradition that was passed down to him by his family. When Marly and her family gather with the Chrises and Fritz in the sugar camp, they experience a time of communal bonding that enriches not only their knowledge of syrup making but also their human experience.
Light and Dark
In literature, light and dark traditionally symbolize the battle between good and evil. Light is safe, pure, and revealing, whereas darkness is mysterious, frightening, and disorienting. In Virginia Sorensen’s Miracles at Maple Hill, Marly is searching for the blazing light of hope for her traumatized father. Throughout the narrative, the author uses the interplay of light and darkness to symbolize Marly’s pursuit of peace and rest after a season of sorrow and adversity. After moving to Maple Hill, Marly searches for light as a source of comfort in a new, unfamiliar environment. When she sees the cozy homes lit from within, it eases her anxiety and makes her feel more at home, and the descriptions of the narrative emphasize this relationship, stating, “The woods looked dark and scary on the edges. But then there was a light—and another light” (38). Though the countryside can often be much darker than a city at night, Marly finds comfort in knowing that she is safe with her family, and they can find refuge in their new home in Maple Hill.
The author also incorporates incandescence to underscore moments of Marly’s newfound understanding of life through her interactions with nature. These illuminating moments not only increase her understanding of the natural world but also mark her journey of emotional growth. For example, the narrative describes her minute examination of the natural world by stating, “The sun fingered its way through the tiny green new leaves, and as it moved over the ground, as its light spread, the pointed buds opened” (50). Though Marly has most of her transformative experiences in daylight, in time she comes to see the night as magical too. Darkness ceases to be a reminder of grief and sadness, and the moonlight becomes a friendly presence. However, the greatest darkness that Marly and her family must overcome is her father’s illness, which weighs heavily and casts a dark shadow, not only over his face but over the entire family unit. After living on the edge for so long, unsure of what might trigger his anger next, Marly goes into survival mode each time she fears she has failed him. When she nearly causes a disaster with the kitchen stove, however, her father reacts calmly and doesn’t explode with anger. Marly’s relief at his calm response feels like a beam of hope shining into her soul; as the narrative states, “Relief flooded over her, and she felt light, light, light” (46). Living at Maple Hill has lightened the heavy darkness of Dale’s trauma, making the entire family feel like a weight has been lifted. Throughout the narrative, the author incorporates images of light and dark to symbolize the characters’ emotional journey and highlight the redeeming power of optimism and hope.
Unlock all 44 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: