50 pages • 1 hour read
Love Redesigned
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Symbols & Motifs
The Founder’s House
The blue Founder’s house that Dahlia and Julian restore throughout the novel is a symbol that reflects The Benefits of Second Chances. As Julian and Dahlia restore the house, they simultaneously restore their relationship and build it into something sustainable for the future.
The Founder’s house is one of five built by the original founders of Lake Wisteria, and the one the founder Gerald Blake lived and died in. This house has also been Dahlia’s dream house since she was a child; Julian bought the house when it was for sale because he knew this. Initially, Julian wanted to destroy the house because he was angry with Dahlia after their relationship ended in college. Though he despised her, Julian was never able to bulldoze the house, knowing what it means to the woman he loved. Julian still threatens its destruction when Dahlia wants to renovate it, revealing some of the anger that he still harbors toward her. Julian’s plan to restore the house is spurred on by his mother’s plan to get him and Dahlia together, and the time they spend working on it brings them closer to one another.
The story behind the Founder’s house is also symbolic of Dahlia and Julian’s relationship. Gerald’s letter to Francesca emphasizes the past and draws attention to how much Dahlia and Julian’s past influences their relationship and decisions in the present. Dahlia and Julian argue about the letter as they argue about the Founder’s house, with Dahlia believing Gerald pushed Francesca away and Julian thinking Francesca should have come to Gerald. In many ways, the doomed relationship in the letter mirrors Julian and Dahlia’s failed relationship in college.
However, unlike Gerald and Francesca, Dahlia and Julian learn how to work through the issues in their relationship. Julian’s building of Gerald’s gazebo as a gift for Dahlia symbolizes further progress in their relationship and how they don’t allow it to get stuck in the past. When they move into the Founder’s house and turn it into their home, the house symbolizes the way in which the couple has turned the past into something new.
Lake Wisteria, Michigan
Much like the Founder’s house, Dahlia and Julian’s hometown of Lake Wisteria is both a setting and symbolic of their complicated relationship with the past. Though Lake Wisteria has always been Julian’s home, his life has become stagnant there before Dahlia returns. He kept his childhood house the same way it had always been despite his immense wealth and moved into a mansion that didn’t feel like home. He has greatly invested in the town and set down roots there, yet he is also willing to leave the past and Lake Wisteria behind when Dahlia moves back to California.
Dahlia’s relationship with the town is even more complicated, as she felt at home somewhere else for many years before returning. When she returns, it is only under duress, and Dahlia initially feels she must hide from the friends and neighbors who have known her all her life. As Julian drives her back within city limits, she notes how she is too focused on her sorrows to feel the nostalgic appreciation she expects when coming home.
These feelings all evolve as the novel progresses, as both characters gradually feel their hometown becoming more like a home to them. In the end, Julian and Dahlia recognize that they can’t entirely ignore the past, but that they must build new things to have a future. Their lives in Lake Wisteria change as they renovate and move into the Founder’s house, start a new TV show there, and ultimately begin a life together. In this way, Lake Wisteria symbolizes how Dahlia and Julian’s relationship is built upon their past but can have a new future.
Carpentry
Carpentry forms an important motif in the novel, reflecting The Effects of Grief and Depression on Relationships. Julian had always loved carpentry growing up, and it was one of the things he bonded over with his father. However, Julian refuses to even enter his father’s woodshop after his death. Julian’s carpentry represents what makes him happy, and how he has denied himself this happiness over the years.
Knowing Julian’s interests and talent, Dahlia immediately suggests he do the intricate woodwork for the Founder’s house once they begin working on the project. Julian is stubborn, hiring and firing two carpenters before agreeing to work on the carpentry himself. Julian is torn between what he actually wants to do and what he feels he is forced to do to keep the family business going, yet he finally gets the courage to return to his father’s woodshop in Chapter 46. When he does so, he sees the tools that have been passed down over many generations in his family, which his father never got a chance to give him.
Though his father is gone, Julian’s mother tells him they planned to give the tools to him and tells him that he should use them now. Julian uses his returned passion for carpentry to make things for his other true love, building the gazebo at their new home and the ring box he uses to propose to Dahlia. Once Julian is able to reckon with how his grief impacted his relationship with himself and his personal development, he is able to return to doing the thing that makes him happy.
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By Lauren Asher
