42 pages • 1 hour read
Exiles
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Symbols & Motifs
Office Diary
The “week-to-week office diary” (106), or planner, that Gemma gives Falk symbolizes their relationship as well as Falk’s lack of work-life balance. When Gemma and Falk meet, he is working on a task force for the federal police and has little personal life. She gives him the diary to help him organize his time. However, she does not put her number in because his schedule would not allow their relationship to develop the way she wants. After Falk comes to Marralee a second time, Gemma gives in, and they begin seeing one another. When he finally moves in with her and takes a job at Charlie’s vineyard, the diary represents the balance between his work and personal life. At the end of the novel, he mentions wanting to visit his hometown and says, “We’ll put something in the diary” (351). This statement expresses how he is able to make time for family and friends in his new profession as the diary takes on new meanings of a work-life balance.
Phone
Another symbol of Falk’s work-life imbalance is his cell phone. It appears in the Melbourne scenes, distracting him during his first meeting with Gemma. Falk’s phone also appears in Marralee. When he goes to the festival for the second time, he “suddenly, maddeningly, pictured his phone. Lying on his bed back in the Raco’s guesthouse, heavy still with calls to return and emails to be answered” (170). The figurative “heavy with calls” indicates how Falk’s work responsibilities weigh on him. When he changes jobs, his phone is no longer a weight on him.
Memorial Plaque
The memorial plaque for Gemma’s late husband, Dean, is a motif that runs through the novel. It develops the theme of Memory’s Impact on the Present. At first, Falk only sees the plaque from a distance. Raco points it out, but they don’t get a good look. Later, Falk encounters Dean’s son, Joel, cleaning the plaque, which had been vandalized. The plaque reads, “In memory of Dean Tozer [...] Loved and missed” (142). The vandalization suggests not everyone loved and missed him. Rumors circulate of financial misdeeds and a possible affair with Kim. Dean’s past is a cause of suspicion and doubt throughout the investigation. These turn out to be red herrings, however. Dean appears to have been an honest businessperson, loving husband, and supportive father. Falk bonds with Joel by helping him clean the plaque, and Gemma is impressed with their work. In this way, the plaque brings Falk closer to the Tozers. The novel’s ending suggests he will come to fill the role in their lives left empty by Dean’s death.
Paint Samples
Joel’s paint samples from Dean’s crash site are another motif and clue, which develop the theme of Perception and Reality. Falk and everyone else assume the paint came from a car. Later, he holds the samples “for what felt like a long time, making sure he was really seeing what he’d expected to see” (344). He questions his assumption that the paint is from a car. Falk visits the police station and holds up the sample: “The paint on the wall and the paint on the wood chip. The colors matched” (347). Once Falk sees the color without preconceived notions, he realizes Dwyer painted over the evidence at the crime scene. Dwyer painted “blue over black” (349). It took months for Falk to solve Dean’s mystery because Dwyer took advantage of people’s assumption that the paint at the scene was from a car.
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