Sol: The Resilient Girl Who Becomes Rainy’s Companion and Beacon of Hope

Overview

Sol is a nine-year-old girl first encountered in chapter 21 of I Cheerfully Refuse, where she is discovered fishing with a trident after a three-day storm. She has been left as payment with King Richard, a trafficker who abused previous girls. Rainy trades his treasured bass guitar to secure her permanent freedom, and Sol becomes his companion for the remainder of the journey. She embodies resilience, resourcefulness, and a fierce will to survive, serving as a living symbol of hope in a dystopian world.

Plot Role

Sol’s arrival fundamentally shifts Rainy’s quest. Before meeting her, Rainy sails alone after losing his wife Lark; his journey is one of grief and aimless pursuit. Sol gives him a concrete purpose: protect a child from the systemic cruelty of the world. She drives key plot sequences: the burial of a corpse, the negotiation of the canal, the confrontation with the bridge operator Alistair, the reunion with her grandfather Griff, the imprisonment on the ship Posterity, and the final escape. Her persistent optimism and stubbornness force Rainy to act even when he might surrender to despair.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Sol’s primary motivation is survival and the search for belonging. She clings to the story of her grandfather Griff, even fabricating details when necessary. Her traits include:

• Resourcefulness: She steals Richard’s hidden cash, burns Alistair’s booth, and picks locks. She improvises a funeral for a stranger because it feels right.
• Stubbornness: When Rainy refuses to bury a floating corpse, Sol swims out and begins dragging it ashore. He eventually joins her, adopting her moral clarity.
• Bravery: She swims across a channel hypothermic, confronts a gang of boys with a spear, and sneaks onto the mainland to set a fire as a distraction.
• Compassion: She insists on a dignified grave for an unknown drowned man, places stones carefully, and speaks a simple eulogy. She later frees a bulldog from a shopkeeper’s rope.
• Defiance of erasure: On the ship Posterity, she writes her name on the wall with a stolen marker to preserve her identity when officials refuse to use her name.

Chronological Arc

Sol’s arc moves from captive to free agent to young survivor building a new life.

• Rescue (ch. 21-22): Rainy trades his bass for Sol’s freedom. She reveals her name, and they sail east together.
• Journey through the canal (ch. 23-26): Sol navigates danger—boys attack, a bridge operator tries to extort them. She burns Alistair’s booth, steals his glasses, and swims to Rainy’s boat despite hypothermia.
• Reunion with Griff (ch. 27-28): She embraces her grandfather, but he proves unreliable and panics during a storm. They are captured by Tom Skint and taken to the ship Posterity.
• Imprisonment (ch. 29-35): Held as a “guest” by Werryck, Sol is scheduled for compliance therapy. She sends a note to Rainy via the janitor Marcel, reaffirming her identity.
• Escape and new life (ch. 36-38): After the ship’s collapse, Sol escapes with Rainy. They settle in Jolie with the Girards. She secretly plants seeds across the town, a hopeful act. She struggles with the death of Grandfather Griff but begins attending school and embracing stories.

Relationships

• Rainy: A surrogate father. Sol trusts him completely after he rescues her. She teases him, challenges him, and relies on him. Rainy, in turn, finds purpose in protecting her. Their bond is sealed during the burial scene and later when he risks his life to keep her safe.
• King Richard: The abusive trafficker who keeps her as payment. She loathes him and steals from him without remorse.
• Griff: Her grandfather, initially a longed-for figure but ultimately a cowardly, self-serving man who sides with Werryck. Sol is heartbroken when he dies but later learns to accept his loss.
• Werryck and the ship authorities: They treat her as a number, not a person. She resists by remembering her name and making herself visible (the note, the stolen marker).
• The Girards: Evelyn and the doctor offer kindness, a home, and a path to normalcy. Sol slowly opens up to them.
• Harriet: A fellow escapee who helps the community. Sol watches her with curiosity and respect.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Theme and Symbol Connections

Sol connects to nearly every major theme in the novel:

• Hope in Darkness: Her relentless optimism and joy (dancing, planting, insisting on a funeral) embody the idea that people can choose hope even when “probably doomed and perplexingly merry.”
• Resistance to Oppression: Her defiance against Richard, Alistair, and Werryck shows that even a child can push back against unjust power.
• Grief and Memory: She grieves her lost family (grandfather, missing parents) but also creates new memories. She remembers her name when others try to rename her.
• The Power of Stories and Literacy: Rainy reads to her from Molly Thorn. She learns to write her name, seeing letters as “tracks people leave in the world.” Stories become a lifeline for her, just as they are for Rainy.
• Music as Survival: Though Sol does not play music, she is saved by it—Rainy trades his bass for her freedom. Later, hearing his bass through the ship’s pipes comforts her.
• Symbolism: She is named Sol (sun), and like the sun, she brings light to Rainy’s dark journey. The seeds she plants are literal and metaphorical—they grow despite the decay around her.

5 Questions and Answers

1. Why does Sol insist on burying the corpse they find floating in Misery Bay?

Sol insists because she believes every person deserves a dignified grave, regardless of how they died or whether she knew them. She tells Rainy, “We got to bury him,” and works tirelessly until it is done. The act shows her compassion and her refusal to let the drowned become forgotten refuse.

2. What motivates Sol to steal King Richard’s hidden money?

Sol steals the money as a survival tactic. Richard has kept her as a payment and abused previous girls; she knows she must escape. The cash gives her and Rainy the means to buy food, pay bridge tolls, and eventually reach safety. It also represents reclaiming agency from her abuser.

3. How does Sol resist the dehumanizing experience on the ship Posterity?

She resists by holding onto her name. When the woman bringing meals refuses to use the children’s names, Sol writes “Sol” on the wall by her bed with a stolen marker. Later, she sends a handwritten note to Rainy, asserting her identity. She also refuses to accept the “new name” the therapy program would give her.

4. Why does Sol initially believe in her grandfather Griff, and why is she ultimately disappointed?

Sol believes in Griff because he is the last living relative she knows of; she dreams of being reunited with a protector. She has invented stories about him to give herself hope. When he appears, she is overjoyed. But during the storm, Griff panics, fails to steer, and later sides with Werryck. Sol is deeply disappointed, but she eventually processes his death with Rainy’s help and does not let it break her.

5. What does Sol’s act of secretly planting seeds across Jolie signify?

It signifies her turn from survival to creation. After escaping the ship and settling in Jolie, she takes a small, hopeful action: planting seeds in unlikely places. The melon vines and sunflowers that sprout from crumbling chimneys and sidewalk cracks mirror her own resilience. It also echoes the themes of Molly Thorn and Rainy’s belief that “the best futures are unforeseen.” Sol is literally and metaphorically planting hope.