The Candle in the Window Symbol in Good Spirits

What Is the Candle in the Window?

In Good Spirits by B. K. Borison, the candle in the window begins as a concrete object—a flame placed on a windowsill—and becomes a central symbol that threads through the novel’s emotional landscape. The candle first appears in a memory of Nolan’s human life: a family tradition of his mother Caoimhe, who lit a candle in the window each night to guide sailors home. After Nolan’s death and his century of haunting, Harriet adopts the same practice. She lights a candle in her own window and keeps it burning day and night as she waits for Nolan to return, refusing to let her hope or her memories fade. The symbol recurs at three key points: during the memory of Nolan’s past (Chapter 21), during Harriet’s vigil (Chapter 36), and when she finally decides to blow it out, triggering the novel’s climax (Chapter 39). Its meaning shifts across these moments, moving from a tradition of familial love and guidance to a private act of faith, and finally to a gesture of release.

How the Candle’s Meaning Changes

The Family Beacon: Guidance and Belonging

The candle’s origin is rooted in Nolan’s childhood. While visiting a memory of himself as a young man eating soup alone on Christmas Eve, Nolan tells Harriet that his mother always kept a candle in the window. The tradition was simple: a light to welcome home any sailor lost at sea, a promise of safe return. For Nolan, the candle represents the warmth and security of his family—a home where he was loved, remembered, and expected. That memory becomes one of the fragments he had almost lost after a hundred years of haunting. The candle thus ties directly to the theme of memory and identity, showing how small rituals anchor a person to who they once were. Even as a ghost, Nolan’s connection to that candle‑lit window offers a fragment of his lost humanity.

Harriet’s Vigil: Hope in the Dark

After Nolan vanishes in gold sparks (Chapter 35), Harriet wakes and discovers she remembers him—a small miracle she clings to. She places the compass he gave her on the mantel, makes coffee, and begins to wait. “She lights a candle in the window and holds onto her memories, prompted by an inner voice to ‘remember and wait.’” The candle becomes the physical embodiment of her hope. It is also the last remnant of Nolan’s magic: its wick never burns down, its wax never melts. Harriet keeps it burning for weeks, even as her sister Samantha notices how worn down she has become. The candle here is not a tradition passed down from Nolan’s family; it is a symbol Harriet chooses for herself. It represents her refusal to let go of Nolan, her belief that love can bridge the distance between the living and the dead. This connects to the theme of love and connection, and also to redemption and self-acceptance, as Harriet learns to value her own persistent hope despite the pain it causes.

The Blowing Out: Letting Go and the Return

The final transformation occurs in Chapter 39. Harriet decides to blow out the candle. She reasons that she cannot keep waiting forever and that holding onto the candle only prolongs her heartache. She closes her eyes, thinks of Nolan, and extinguishes the flame. The immediate knock at the door is Darryl with a package, but after Darryl leaves, a second knock reveals Nolan himself. The candle’s extinguishing coincides with Nolan’s return—he has chosen to come back to her instead of moving on to peace. The symbol thus pivots from waiting and hope to a necessary release. The candle had to be blown out for the reunion to happen; the act of letting go paradoxically brings Nolan home. This moment redefines the symbol: the candle in the window was always about the promise of return, but Harriet had to trust that promise without seeing the flame. It echoes the novel’s exploration of unfinished business, where love itself becomes the unfinished business that keeps souls tethered.

Character Connections

Nolan Callahan

For Nolan, the candle in the window is a fragment of his lost human life. When he recalls his mother Caoimhe lighting the candle, the memory returns to him with Harriet’s help. The candle represents the safety and love he once knew, and which he has been unable to reclaim as a ghost. Later, when he returns to Harriet, he does not re‑light the candle; instead, he steps into the space she has kept ready for him. The candle’s magic—its un‑burning flame—is the last trace of his supernatural presence, and when Harriet blows it out, his return is grounded in the ordinary, mortal world.

Harriet York

Harriet adopts the candle as her own ritual. She is a woman who has been shaped by family estrangement and reconciliation, and her willingness to wait day after day signals a profound change from the guarded person who first met the Ghost of Christmas Past. The candle becomes her way of honoring the connection she felt with Nolan. She even refers to it as “calling lost sailors home”—explicitly linking her vigil to his family tradition. By the end, blowing out the candle is an act of courage: she accepts that she cannot force Nolan’s return, and that act of acceptance is what allows him to come back.

Aunt Matilda

Though the candle itself does not belong to Matilda, she is part of the supernatural framework that brings Nolan and Harriet together. In Chapter 38, Matilda appears as a ghost alongside Isabella and confirms that Nolan’s unfinished business was never the compass but Harriet herself. The candle, as a symbol of waiting, is indirectly connected to Matilda’s role in orchestrating the pair’s destiny. The lighthouse mentioned in Nolan’s memory also echoes Matilda’s guidance, but the candle remains Harriet and Nolan’s own.

Theme Connections

Study Questions and Answers

Question 1

How does the candle in the window function as a symbol of Nolan’s family history and its impact on his afterlife?

Answer: In the memory of Nolan’s past (Chapter 21), the candle represents a family tradition of lighting a flame to guide sailors home. For Nolan, this memory is a rare intact fragment of his human life; he tells Harriet that his mother Caoimhe kept the candle burning. The symbol underscores how love and ritual outlast death: even after a century of haunting, the candle’s warmth stays with Nolan. It also foreshadows Harriet’s own use of the candle, suggesting that the tradition of hopeful waiting is one Nolan unconsciously passes on to her.

Question 2

What does Harriet’s decision to light the candle after Nolan’s departure reveal about her character development?

Answer Harriet’s choice to light the candle shows her growth from skepticism to wholehearted faith. In the opening chapters, she challenges Nolan’s very existence and demands proof. After Nolan leaves, she trusts the intangible: she keeps a flame that never burns down and waits day after day. This patience marks a departure from her earlier habit of guarding herself. The candle becomes an emblem of the “boundless” person Nolan saw in her—someone willing to hope despite the risk of heartbreak.

Question 3

How does the candle’s transformation from a literal beacon to a metaphorical one reflect the novel’s treatment of memory?

Answer The candle begins as a literal light in Nolan’s mother’s window, meant to guide sailors across water. When Harriet lights her own candle, the beacon is no longer physical—it guides Nolan through the metaphysical space between the dead and the living. The flame also serves as a mnemonic device: Harriet relies on it to hold her memories of Nolan intact. This shift from literal to metaphorical mirrors how the novel treats memory itself—as something that can be preserved through symbolic acts even when direct experience is lost.

Question 4

Why does Harriet ultimately decide to blow out the candle, and how does this action resolve the symbol’s meaning?

Answer Harriet blows out the candle because she believes Nolan is not coming home and that continuing to wait will only deepen her grief. The act is an admission of finality, yet it paradoxically opens the door for Nolan’s return. By extinguishing the candle, Harriet demonstrates that she can move forward, which satisfies the condition that had kept Nolan tethered. The symbol thus evolves from a sign of passive hope to an affirmation of active letting‑go. In the end, the candle’s meaning is not about waiting indefinitely, but about being willing to release what you love so that it can come back to you freely.