The Saints of Swallow Hill

The Cobb property symbolizes Rae Lynn’s memories of Warren and her devotion to him and his memory. Rae Lynn mentions that the house was “the first house she’d ever lived in, and she made it her own” (19). The barn also symbolizes her memory of one of her first sexual encounters with Warren, the barn being where she remembers him “having her right there” in an “impromptu act as passionate a moment as either ever had” (69). After Warren’s death, which is precipitated by a limb crashing through the roof, Rae Lynn cannot stand being in the bedroom due to the “horrible stain down the side of” the bed where Warren shot himself (89). Before she leaves, she burns the mattress and says that “burning their marriage bed was purifying in a way she couldn’t describe, as if by doing this, she was also burning the memories of what happened” (89). Later in the novel, she returns for closure, but after Butch had bought the house and she started living at the farmhouse, “the house no longer held the same meaning for her as it had when Warren was alive” (337). After Butch sends her away, she is able to let the property go, now making her home and new memories with Del, his family, and Cornelia. She visits the property again with her children in 1942, and still remembers Warren, but is focused on her family now.

Being confined, both literally and figuratively, is a recurring motif throughout the narrative. Physical confinement first appears early in the novel, when Del is trapped in a grain bin, leading to a near-death experience that prompts him to seek new opportunities. He finds himself confined again at Swallow Hill in the sweatbox, where Crow punishes and humiliates workers he deems to be out of line. Both Del and Rae Lynn spend time in the box, and there, Rae Lynn has a near-death experience of her own.

Confinement is also figurative, however. Several characters are trapped in their situations due to The Burdens of Race, Gender, and Sexuality Expectations: Cornelia is trapped in an abusive marriage due to her sexual orientation, while Del’s and Rae Lynn’s values and integrity are constricted by social norms about race and gender. Rae Lynn’s situation presents its own trappings, as the threat of imprisonment if Butch claims she murdered Warren looms over her, prompting her escape to Swallow Hill. The camp itself represents its own form of confinement, as most workers are immediately indebted to Otis due to the need to purchase supplies and the inability to repay with their meager wages. Workers who attempt to leave while in debt are hunted, as happens to Nolan.

Notably, all three characters escape confinement upon arriving at the farmhouse in North Carolina, a place where they finally find peace and freedom to live according to their desires and values.