Mystic River Symbolism

A lot can change in twenty-five years. People make new friends, reach new milestones, move to different towns, and take on new challenges. In the book Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were best friends twenty-five years ago, until a frightful moment changed their lives, sending each of them on their own individual path of life. The three men have avoided each other since the incident, but when Jimmy’s daughter goes missing, they realize that in order to help her, they must patch up the gaps from their childhood. In this journal, I will be giving three examples of symbolic objects/parts mentioned throughout the book. One of the many symbolic parts of this book is the sport of baseball. In the boys’ childhood days, Jimmy stole Sean’s baseball glove from his bedroom. Jimmy and

Dave saunters into his home, describing the details of his night/early morning to his wife, Celeste. His jeans were saturated in blood, and it was not all his own. Dave claims that he got sliced, and although the cut was not deep, it bled excessively. Dave then went after the person who attempted to mug him, telling Celeste that is was an act of self –defense, but he felt absolutely horrible for his actions. Even though Celeste does not believe her husband’s less-than-infallible alibi, she assists with hand washing his jeans: “I dunno for sure, but I figure blood and… other stuff have a better chance of sticking to the insides of a washing machine than to a sink drain” (Lehane 61) ☺. Meanwhile, Jimmy’s daughter, Katie, is missing, and her car is found in the local park, covered in blood. Celeste hears this news and is suspicious that Dave was somehow connected to her disappearance, as both incidences occurred on the same day. Celeste starts to panic when she realizes that she tampered with possible evidence in the case, but brushes her feelings aside, believing that it is all a