The String Symbol in Our Violent Ends: Improvised Rings and Fragile Bonds

In Chloe Gong's Our Violent Ends, the string that Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov use to improvise wedding rings is more than a makeshift substitute for metal bands. It is a concentrated symbol of the entire novel's central tension: a bond that is both desperately real and terrifyingly fragile, forged in a moment of peace while the city erupts in violence around them. The string represents a promise made against impossible odds, a connection that the characters choose to create even as the world conspires to sever it.

What the String Literally Is

The string appears in Chapter Forty, during the height of the Nationalist purge. Juliette and Roma, along with Alisa and Lourens, are hiding in Lourens's apartment. After a night of waiting, Roma proposes and Juliette accepts. The ceremony they improvise is deliberately stripped of institutional authority: there is no officiant, no witnesses, and no legal document. Instead, Juliette grabs a ball of yarn from the table, measures a length, and slices it with her knife. She winds the string around Roma's right ring finger, as is customary for Russians, and speaks her vows. Roma then cuts his own piece and carefully ties it around Juliette's left hand. The Bible, which Juliette initially grabbed because she thought they needed one to get married in the city, falls to the floor during their embrace, underscoring that this ceremony is entirely their own invention.

The string is a domestic, ordinary object—a ball of yarn—repurposed for a sacred purpose. It is not gold or silver, not a symbol of wealth or family alliance. It is a material that can be cut with a pocket knife and tied with a simple knot, which makes it a perfect emblem for a relationship that exists outside the sanctioned structures of their world.

Recurrence and Shifting Meaning

While the string rings are the most explicit use of the symbol, the motif of string and thread recurs throughout the novel in ways that deepen its meaning.

The Garrote Wire: String as Weapon

Early in the novel, Juliette's signature weapon is a garrote wire, a thin strand of metal or cord she keeps around her wrist. In Chapter Twenty-Eight, when she confronts her cousin Tyler about his plan to duel Roma, she instinctively reaches for the wire, twisting it around her finger to ground herself against her anger. This is a crucial parallel: the same kind of thin, looped material that Juliette uses to kill is also the material she will later use to marry. The garrote is a tool of the blood feud, a constant reminder of the violence that defines her life. The string ring, by contrast, is a tool of connection. The symbol thus carries a dual valence—string can bind a person's throat or bind two people together. The choice of how it is used is the choice between the feud and love.

Kathleen's Red Thread: String as Allegiance

In Chapter Twenty-Seven, Kathleen Lang attends a Communist meeting and notices the red thread tied around her own wrist. The narrative explicitly contrasts this thread with the red armbands worn by the workers: the thread is described as pristine and decorative, a symbol of her Scarlet Gang allegiance, while the workers' red is dirty and desperate. Kathleen's thread is a marker of identity, a visible sign of which side she belongs to. This use of thread as a badge of loyalty prefigures the string rings, which are also a visible marker of a chosen bond—but one that defies the gang allegiances that have defined both Juliette and Roma's lives.

The Silk Bandage: String as Care

In Chapter Two, Roma wakes to find his arm bandaged with silk torn from Juliette's dress. This is an early, unspoken act of tenderness between the two leads, a moment where Juliette's violence (she knocked him out) is immediately followed by an act of care. The silk is a fabric, a kind of thread, and it foreshadows the string rings: a material taken from one person's clothing and used to bind another, a physical connection that speaks of intimacy and concern.

Character and Theme Connections

The string rings are the culmination of Juliette and Roma's arc across the novel. Their relationship has been defined by the impossibility of their situation—they are heirs to warring gangs, and their love is a betrayal of everything their families stand for. The string rings are a direct response to this impossibility. They cannot have a legal marriage, a church ceremony, or the blessing of their families. So they create their own ritual, using whatever is at hand.

The scene is also a direct echo of their earlier conversation in Chapter Thirty-Two, where Juliette wishes they had been born as other people, untouched by the blood feud. Roma's response is that he would not trade their meeting for an ordinary life, because the feud is what brought them together. The string rings are the physical manifestation of this paradox: a bond that is made possible only by the very circumstances that make it so fragile.

The symbol connects directly to the novel's major themes:

Love versus Duty: The string rings are a rejection of duty. Juliette and Roma choose each other over their families, their gangs, and their names. The improvised ceremony is an act of defiance against the structures that demand they be enemies.
The Cycle of Violence and the Impossibility of Escape: The string rings are tied while gunfire and bugle calls sound outside the apartment. The violence of the purge is literally pressing in on the moment of connection, reminding the reader that this bond exists within a world that is trying to destroy it. The string is a fragile defense against that violence.
Sacrifice and Selflessness: The vows Roma speaks—that even death cannot part them—are a promise of sacrifice. They are committing to each other in a way that transcends their own survival, a selfless devotion that mirrors the larger sacrifices the characters make throughout the novel.
Political Upheaval and the Transformation of Power: The wedding takes place during the Nationalist purge, a moment when the old gang power structures are being swept away by larger political forces. The string rings are a private ritual created in the chaos of public collapse, a small act of human connection against the backdrop of historical transformation.
Betrayal and Hidden Loyalties: The string rings are a secret. Juliette and Roma cannot publicly acknowledge their marriage, and Alisa's later forgery of a marriage certificate in the epilogue suggests that the truth of their bond must be hidden and then manufactured for public consumption. The string is a symbol of a loyalty that must remain hidden.

The Fragility of the Bond

The string is an explicitly fragile material. It can be cut, frayed, or snapped. This fragility is the point. The bond between Juliette and Roma is not a solid, unbreakable metal band; it is a thread that could be severed at any moment by the violence of their world. The novel does not offer a guarantee of happiness or safety. The string rings are a promise made in the face of uncertainty, a commitment that is all the more powerful because it is so precarious.

The epilogue deepens this fragility. Alisa, reflecting on the past year, notes that Juliette and Roma were buried together, though no bodies were found. The string rings, if they survived the explosion, would have been destroyed with them. The bond they symbolized was real, but it was also temporary, a brief moment of connection in a life defined by loss.

Study Questions

How does the string ring ceremony contrast with the violence occurring simultaneously in the city?

Answer: The ceremony takes place in Lourens's apartment while the Nationalist purge is beginning outside. The narrative explicitly notes the sound of gunfire and bugle calls penetrating the space. The string rings are a private, peaceful act of connection created in direct opposition to the public, organized violence of the purge. The contrast highlights the theme of love versus duty: Juliette and Roma are choosing to create a bond of their own making even as the larger world is tearing their families and city apart.

What is the significance of Juliette using her knife to cut the string?

Answer: The knife is a tool of violence, the same kind of weapon Juliette uses throughout the novel to kill and defend herself. By using it to cut a piece of string for a wedding ring, she is repurposing an instrument of death for an act of creation. This mirrors the larger arc of her character, who must learn to choose love over the violence that has defined her life. It also connects to the garrote wire, another thin strand that Juliette uses as a weapon, creating a direct symbolic link between the tools of the feud and the tools of connection.

How does the string symbol relate to the theme of escape?

Answer: The string rings represent an attempt to escape the constraints of the blood feud. Juliette and Roma cannot escape their names, their families, or the violence of their world, but they can create a private bond that exists outside those structures. The string is a symbol of a chosen identity, a connection that is not dictated by birth or allegiance. However, the fragility of the string also suggests that this escape is temporary and precarious. The novel does not offer a clean escape from the cycle of violence; the string rings are a moment of respite, not a solution.

In the epilogue, Alisa forges a marriage certificate for Roma and Juliette. How does this act interact with the symbolism of the string rings?

Answer: The string rings were a private, improvised ritual with no legal standing. Alisa's forged certificate gives that ritual public legitimacy, translating a fragile, personal bond into a document that can be seen by the world. This act suggests that the love Juliette and Roma shared was real enough to warrant official recognition, even if that recognition had to be manufactured. It also highlights the tension between the private truth of their bond and the public narrative that must be created to preserve it. The certificate is another kind of thread, connecting the couple's story to the historical record, but it is a thread that is, like the string rings, ultimately fragile and subject to the whims of those who hold it.