53 pages • 1 hour read
Benjamin StevensonEveryone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Bag of Money
This item appears immediately in the novel. It initially seems to be the reason Michael became tangled up with Alan Holton; however, that is not the case. Something so important not being what it appears to be is symbolic of the novel itself: As the solution to the mystery of the dead body is revealed—along with the true story of Robert Cunningham’s death and Michael’s involvement—the reader learns that the apparent truth on the surface cannot be trusted. The deceptive nature of the surface of things is especially applicable when wealth is involved; at every turn in the novel, family loyalty among the Cunninghams ultimately has a stronger pull than money. Ernie’s initial assumption that Michael has stolen the money from Alan Holton casts Michael as a thief and criminal. When Ernie later discerns that the money may have belonged to Michael and that Michael was, instead, offering it as payment to Holton, the reader’s perception of Michael changes. Later still, as Ernie pieces together the details involving the botched ransom, Michael’s character becomes even more complex—readers are invited to question whether he is a noble son who is righting his father’s death or a duplicitous double agent, outsmarting Alan Holton by finally garnering the ransom money.
Thus, the narrator uses the money as a focal point, drawing the reader’s attention toward it and away from it at times in order to reveal the complex layers and interconnectedness of the players in the mystery.
The Rolex Watch
Marcelo is characterized by the Rolex watch he wears: It is expensive and carries with it an air of prestige, suggesting the person who wears it is also important, refined, and of an elite class. Ernie frequently contrasts Marcelo, with his love of other expensive items, with his father Robert, noting that Robert was not a thief because of his desire for material goods. As the novel progresses, however, it becomes evident that the Rolex is not merely a luxury timepiece. Marcelo himself points out to Ernie that the brand markets itself as an item that is built to last and therefore meant to become a family heirloom. Indeed, the watch Marcelo owns is not actually his, but Robert’s; Marcelo insists he is merely keeping it safe until one of Robert’s sons can wear it.
The watch becomes an important clue for Ernie in the unraveling of the mystery surrounding Michael, the money, and the man who dies at the resort. Ernie is able to deduce not only that Sofia stole the real Rolex from Marcelo but also that it contains the object at the center of the conflict: the photograph that Michael intended to purchase from Alan Holton. The manner in which the photographs are, in a sense, hidden in plain sight reflects a mystery novel trope. Yet the watch is not what it seems, as the real watch has fallen into Alan’s possession. The watch symbolizes the malleability of perception, especially the ways in which perception can change over time.
The Bingo Card
Upon Ernie’s arrival, Sofia gives him a bingo card she has designed. The squares are filled with the quirky traits and annoying habits each family member is known for and is intended as a joke about the rest of the Cunningham family. It is a way to make light of an uncomfortable situation and to distract from the family tension that will surely ensue. By sharing the game with Ernie, Sofia is demonstrating that she is on his “side” even though the other family members are apprehensive of him, due to his role in Michael’s criminal trial. Ernie recognizes that Sofia is bringing him into her confidences and thus feels that he can trust her. Indeed, throughout the weekend, Ernie and Sofia are united in their efforts to uncover the identity of Green Boots, though Ernie proceeds with caution, not entirely certain of Sofia’s innocence.
The bingo card takes on a greater significance at the end of the novel when Ernie realizes it contains the solution to the mystery—Michael has hidden the microdot that contains the incriminating photographs of Edgar McAuley. Importantly, Michael provides a clue that prompts Ernie to reach this realization, namely having edited the square “Ernie ruins something” to “Ernie ruins fixes something” (364). This clue is symbolic in that Ernie, and most of the other Cunninghams, feel Ernie has ruined the family name by testifying against Michael. This assumption is a wrong that Ernie hopes to right during the weekend reunion. Ironically, in piecing together the truth of their father’s death, Ernie indeed fixes something, albeit reaching “bingo” in a manner he likely never expected.
