66 pages • 2 hours read
Bury Your Dead
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Symbols & Motifs
Sound, Silence, and Voices
Penny uses the motif of speech and sound to illustrate the extent of grief and trauma for her characters, especially Gamache and Beauvoir. Gamache knows that any quiet will be interrupted by “the young voice. More familiar now than those of his own children” (52). This comparison underlines that the depth of his grief is precisely due to Morin’s own youth, his lost future. Throughout the investigation, his conversations with others are frequently interrupted by these reminiscences. Sometimes Gamache quotes Morin without providing context for why a phrase is on his mind, as when he asks Tom Hancock if he also believes “things are strongest where they’re broken” (322). Gamache’s discovery that Ken Haslam does not have a speech or articulation disability but instead deliberately mutes his powerful voice operates as a kind of contrast with the voice in Gamache’s head; no one knows that Gamache is constantly hearing Morin, not even Émile or Reine-Marie, just as few in Anglophone Québec know Haslam’s secret.
Beauvoir, too, is haunted by sound, as he recalls Gamache calling his name after he is shot during the rescue attempt. He dreads the ringing of telephones, instantly flashing back to the day Gamache took Morin’s call and the disaster began. Sound is key to unraveling the terrorism plot, as Yvette Nichol decodes the background noise to determine that the real threat is to the dam, not merely to Morin personally. After watching the video, Ruth and Beauvoir walk to Peter and Clara’s home in companionable silence, not needing to speak of his ordeal or her choice to bear witness to it. Gamache’s final goodbye to Morin ends his internal monologue, emphasizing that Gamache has finally found peace.
Bonds Between Humans and Animals
Gamache’s dog, Henri, is a central presence in the text, illustrating his state of mind and the extent of his recovery. Reine-Marie leaves the dog with her husband when she returns to Montreal, as if in recognition that he is part of Gamache’s support network. This is borne out in the investigation. Henri accompanies Gamache on his research visits, helping him establish emerging social bonds with the library’s members, such as Mr. Blake and Winnie. Gamache reflects that Henri is an excellent judge of character, “the smartest creature Gamache knew. Everything he knew, he knew by heart” (298). The dog goes on to charm a bookseller, helping Gamache learn more about Augustin Renaud’s book-buying habits and recent activities.
Henri accompanies Gamache on his nocturnal walks, his only company as he listens to Paul Morin’s voice. Henri, rather than Beauvoir, is the only witness to Tom Hancock’s confession. The dog’s habits are, ultimately, a reflection of Gamache’s mental state. Shortly after the novel begins, Gamache laughs when Henri catches a snowball, “surprised that the thing that had once been so solid had suddenly disappeared” (6). Gamache repeats the gesture before leaving Québec City, reflecting, “He’d never give up hope” (507). The deeper optimism here reflects Gamache’s ability to return to his old life, somewhat restored from his time in Québec City.
Winter as Retreat and Threat
Much of the novel’s action takes place in winter during Québec City’s Carnaval. Penny uses this motif to illustrate her themes of communities under threat and the impact of recent vulnerability. The winter Carnaval is a time of reverie and celebration, in stark contrast to Gamache’s melancholy and darker preoccupations. Gamache watches as “fiddlers sawed away and kids skated and fireworks lit the sky over the old city” only for Émile to ask him, “Why did Olivier move the body, Armand?“ (37). Gamache, instead of answering, is brought back to the explosions of the factory raid, taken into trauma while surrounded by the joy of strangers. At night, Gamache recalls that Morin was once among the fiddlers and had wished to visit Carnaval again: another opportunity denied by tragedy. For all that the city is joyful, it is also treacherous: “Every winter roofs did collapse and every winter snow and ice slid off to the sidewalk below, crushing unfortunate pedestrians” (387). The city is beloved and beautiful, but treacherous, echoing Gamache’s sense that its beauty contains secrets worth killing for.
Beauvoir, like Gamache, confronts the perils of the season. He rides a snowmobile into the woods to find the Hermit’s cabin, exhilarated by the speed. He finds himself quickly exhausted, however, and is rescued by Vincent Gilbert, who tells him he is still recovering physically from his recent wounds. Beauvoir takes in the winter landscape in Three Pines just as Gamache does in Québec City, seeing “the stars and smell[ing] the fresh, crisp air” (216). He finds himself soon after taking shelter in Ruth Zardo’s home, beginning their first conversation about his ordeal during the rescue attempt. Beauvoir takes shelter once more to interview the Mundins, finding himself charmed by hot chocolate with the young child, Charlie. Yet the winter landscape also features when Beauvoir faces the most unpleasant aspect of his stay: Snow is falling so hard when he summons the suspects together in the bistro that “[t]hey’d be battling a small blizzard by the time they left” (436). Gamache faces the same storm during his final confrontation with Tom Hancock. The tumult reflects that in both cases, revealing the killer’s identity will shatter lives and reshape communities.
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By Louise Penny
