The Inmate By Frieda Mcfadsden

The snowflake necklace is the most important symbol in The Inmate by Frieda McFadden. Brooke’s best friend at the time, Tim, gave Brooke the necklace for her tenth birthday. From that day on, Brooke wore the necklace every day. Until that night, someone tried to choke her with it and now she can’t even look at it. There are multiple ways one can interpret the meaning of Brooke’s necklace. One interpretation is that the necklace represents Tim’s love for Brooke as well as Brooke’s love for Tim (even if it was just as friends). Brooke would often fidget with it when she was younger, and it appeared to help calm her down. At a party at Shane, her boyfriend's house, Brooke touches her necklace when she is stuck in an argument between her boyfriend

From that day on, the snowflake necklace had a completely different meaning for Brooke. It was no longer something that she wanted to wear anymore, and it freaked her out anytime she saw it. For example, for Brooke’s twenty-ninth birthday, Tim finds a snowflake necklace that looks just like the one he got Brooke nineteen years prior. Brooke is disgusted, “I drop the necklace like it’s made of acid. I think I’m going to be sick. It’s the same kind of snowflake necklace that I used to wear years ago” (236). The quote proves that even eleven years after she was attempted to be killed, she is still traumatized. She cannot look at the necklace the same way because all it reminds her of is that night when someone tried to kill her. In addition, the necklace represents Brooke’s trauma and it is a constant reminder of what happened and a constant reminder of the part of herself she lost that night. Another symbol is the place where Shane grew up in the farmhouse. Like the last symbol, I feel the farmhouse can have multiple meanings, just as many symbols can. In my opinion, the farmhouse represents poor people and low-class status. Shane lives in a very rundown house that is falling