The Locket and Necklace: Symbols of Family Connection and Lost Continuity
What Are the Locket and Necklace in the Novel?
In Suzy Krause’s I Think We've Been Here Before, a small silver locket appears as both a gift given and a prized possession lost. The locket is a cheap, heart-shaped pendant Nora buys as a souvenir during the apocalyptic countdown and presents to her mother Hilda in a handmade green felt box. Later, Hilda cannot find the same necklace—a present from Nora from an earlier holiday—and her desperate search reveals the object’s emotional weight. Physically it is a simple, store‑bought silver locket, but its recurrence in the story makes it a touchstone for the themes of family bonds and the objects that outlast their owners.
Where Does the Locket Appear, and How Does Its Meaning Shift?
The Gift at the Airport (Chapter 66)
When Hilda travels to the city to bring Nora home from Berlin, Nora has kept her souvenir secret. “Inside [the felt box], a small silver locket.” At this moment, the locket is a talisman of reunion. Hilda has feared she might never see her daughter again, and the gift confirms their bond is still whole. The locket is a placeholder for Nora’s physical presence—a piece of her that Hilda can wear even when they are apart.
The Lost Necklace (Chapter 21)
Hilda grows frantic when she cannot find the necklace. She has searched everywhere: the car floor, behind the dresser, under the night table. The narrative tells us the necklace “feels symbolic, like a placeholder for her daughter, whom she might never see again, might never even talk to again.” Here the meaning shifts from a simple keepsake to an anchor of hope. In the face of impending loss, losing the locket amplifies Hilda’s fear of losing Nora herself. The search becomes a microcosm of her struggle to hold onto family in the midst of terminal illness and world‑ending catastrophe.
The Shift from Possession to Memory
Between the gift and the loss, the locket transitions from a concrete present to an abstract symbol of continuity. When Hilda eventually finds it (or does not—the text leaves her search unresolved), the reader sees that the object matters less for its material worth than for the connection it represents. The locket embodies the novel’s preoccupation with things that endure beyond their owners: like Marlen’s novel, the painted mural of Hilda in Berlin, and the déjà‑vu that ties Nora and Jacob.
Character Connections: Hilda and Nora
- Hilda treats the locket as a surrogate for her daughter. Her panic when it disappears mirrors her terror of losing Nora to the apocalypse. The locket is a tangible thread she can hold when all communication fails.
- Nora gives the locket as a way of saying “I am here.” She also carries her own token of connection: a tattoo of a cat (her pet from home) and the memory of her kiss with Jacob. For Nora, physical objects anchor her to the people she loves, but the locket passes from her to Hilda, strengthening the maternal bond in a time of crisis.
Theme Connections
Family Bonds Under Crisis
The locket directly links the mother‑daughter relationship to the theme of family bonds under crisis. When Hilda searches for it, she is searching for her daughter. When Nora gives it, she is saying, “I want you to have something of me.”
Grief and Mortality
The novel constantly weighs grief and mortality against the impulse to hold on. The locket is a material companion to immaterial loss. It outlasts the characters who touch it, much like Marlen’s book or the stories passed around the basement on Christmas Eve.
Déjà Vu and Repetition
The locket is not directly linked to déjà‑vu experiences, but its appearance and disappearance echo the novel’s pattern of things being both new and familiar. Nora and Jacob sense they have been here before, and the locket’s journey—given, then lost, then possibly kept—mirrors the cyclical nature of the plot.
Study Questions and Answers
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Why does Hilda react so strongly to losing the necklace?
Hilda’s desperation stems from the necklace being “a placeholder for her daughter.” In the apocalyptic setting, she fears losing Nora permanently, so every physical link to her becomes vital. The necklace is not vanity; it is a survival line. -
How does the locket connect to the theme of objects outlasting their owners?
The locket is a cheap, mass‑produced item that nonetheless carries immense emotional weight. It will remain after Hilda and Marlen are gone, just as Marlen’s novel and the Berlin mural endure. The novel suggests that such objects preserve the love invested in them. -
What does Nora’s choice to give a locket (rather than something else) say about her?
Nora picks a locket—a piece of jewelry meant to be worn near the heart. This choice underscores her wish for her mother to feel her presence physically. It is also a reclaiming of a child‑to‑parent gift, reversing the usual flow of protection. -
Is the locket the same object in the gift scene and the loss scene?
The text is ambiguous, but the evidence points to the locket being a recurring motif rather than a single identical item. In chapter 66 Nora gives a “small silver locket” as a souvenir from Berlin; in chapter 21 Hilda remembers the lost necklace as a present “from Nora last Christmas (or maybe Mother’s Day?).” Whether it is the same piece or a newer replacement, the symbol of mother‑daughter attachment remains constant.