The Price of Wishes and Miracles in The Drowning Kind

In Jennifer McMahon’s The Drowning Kind, the springs at Sparrow Crest are not merely a source of healing water; they are a force that answers desperate pleas with a terrible, often fatal, cost. The novel’s central thematic claim is that wishes granted by the springs are never free—they are bargains that extract payment in grief, guilt, or death. Every character who turns to the water for a miracle—whether for love, a child, or reunion—discovers that hope itself becomes a trap, and that the very thing they wished for arrives wrapped in loss. This analysis traces that theme across three pivotal arcs: Ethel Monroe’s wish for a daughter, Jackie’s childhood wish against her sister, and Lexie’s wish to bring Jax back. It then examines how symbols like the sparrow and the rose garden deepen the meaning, and how the novel complicates the idea of a simple supernatural transaction.

The Wish That Brought a Child

The novel’s earliest and most explicit demonstration of the price of wishes comes through Ethel Monroe. In the 1920s, Ethel, desperate for a child after years of trying, follows the advice of Eliza Harding and makes a wish at the springs. She whispers, “Please, I would do anything. Anything at all, anything to have a child.” The water responds: she becomes pregnant with Margaret “Maggie” Monroe. But the miracle is immediately shadowed. Maggie is born with a severe heart condition, and the doctors say she will not live to see her first birthday. Ethel and her husband Will are told to “bring her home and love her” and to prepare for the inevitable.

The only thing that saves Maggie is the spring water itself, administered secretly by Ethel and her friend Myrtle. The water heals the infant, but the cost is not paid upfront. Decades later, in the chapter dated June 26, 1972, a ninety-five-year-old Ethel reflects on her life. Her granddaughter Rita has drowned in the same pool, and Maggie, now an adult, confronts her mother with fury: “If you had never come to this place, if you had let me die when I was an infant…” Ethel’s response is the novel’s clearest articulation of the theme: “Miracles are not without their price, my darling.”

The price of Ethel’s wish is not just the eventual death of a granddaughter; it is the lifelong guilt and blame that Maggie carries. Maggie’s accusation that Ethel is “to blame” for Rita’s death shows that the wish for a child, though granted, has poisoned the family for generations. The child Ethel wished for—Maggie—survives, but her survival is tied to the very water that later takes her daughter. The miracle and the tragedy are inseparable.

A Sister’s Jealous Wish

The theme recurs in the modern timeline through Jackie Metcalf and her sister Lexie Metcalf. In the prologue, set in 2000, the sisters play the Dead Game in the pool at Sparrow Crest. That night, Jackie, feeling overshadowed by Lexie’s “special” status, leans over the water and whispers a wish: “I wish that Lexie wasn’t always the special one… I wish something bad would happen to her.” This is a childish, jealous wish, but the springs take it seriously.

Nineteen years later, Lexie is found dead in that same pool, naked and cold, having drowned. Jackie, now a child therapist, is consumed by guilt. She remembers her wish and wonders if she caused her sister’s death. The novel does not definitively say that the wish caused the drowning, but the timing and the supernatural elements—Lexie’s ghost appearing to Jackie, the pool’s ability to grant wishes—strongly suggest a causal link. Jackie’s wish for something bad to happen to Lexie is granted, but the price is the loss of her only sister and a lifetime of remorse.

This arc shows that the price of a wish is not always paid by the wisher. Jackie gets what she asked for—Lexie is no longer the special one, because she is dead—but the cost falls on both sisters. Jackie’s guilt becomes a form of drowning itself, as she spirals into obsession and paranoia while investigating Lexie’s death. The wish, made in a moment of petty jealousy, becomes a permanent wound.

The Wish to Reunite

The third major arc involves Lexie’s own wish. In a journal entry read by Jax (the narrator, who is also Jackie’s sister, though the novel uses “Jax” for the narrator in the later chapters), Lexie writes that she wished to have Jax back. The two sisters had been estranged, and Lexie’s wish is for reconciliation. In the epilogue, set in June 2020, the narrator—who we learn is dead—reveals that she and Lexie both got their wishes when she drowned. The narrator says, “I realized that both she and Lexie got their wishes when I drowned.”

This is the most tragic iteration of the theme: the wish for closeness is fulfilled only through death. Lexie wanted Jax back, and Jax wanted to be with Lexie, but the only way the springs can grant that wish is to unite them in the water. The epilogue shows the narrator walking into the pool with Lexie, slipping into the black water together. The wish for reunion becomes a permanent, watery embrace—a union that costs both their lives.

This arc also connects to Diane Metcalf, who admits to making a wish to have her first love, Terri, back. Diane’s wish appears to be granted—she and Terri are together in the present—but the water’s hold over the family continues, and Terri’s health depends on drinking and swimming in the spring water. The price for Diane’s wish is not death, but a lifelong entanglement with the very force that took her niece and her mother’s peace.

Symbols of Bargaining and Loss

The novel uses recurring symbols to reinforce the theme of wishes and their costs. The sparrow appears both as a folk remedy and as a nickname. Ethel carries a sparrow’s egg against her breast for three days, hoping it will help her conceive, but it fails. Later, she calls Maggie her “little sparrow,” and Maggie’s own daughter Rita is described as “otherworldly.” The sparrow is a fragile, delicate creature—a symbol of the vulnerable lives that the springs both create and destroy. The egg, which should bring life, is a false hope; the real miracle comes from the water, but that miracle is also a curse.

The rose garden is where Ethel first meets Eliza Harding, who tells her about the springs’ power. Eliza plucks a white rose and gives it to Ethel, and later Ethel pricks her finger on a thorn. The rose is beautiful but has thorns—a perfect metaphor for the wishes granted by the springs. The garden itself, part of the hotel that Eliza’s husband built, is a place of beauty that conceals danger. The peacock, another symbol linked to the hotel, represents vanity and the allure of the wish, but also the idea that what glitters is not always safe.

The paper boat is a more subtle symbol, appearing in the novel as a child’s toy that floats on the water. It suggests the fragility of hope and the way wishes are launched into the unknown, only to be swallowed by the depths. While the paper boat is not directly tied to a specific wish in the evidence, its presence in the narrative reinforces the idea that wishes are like paper boats—easily capsized, quickly lost.

Complexity and Contradiction

The theme is not a simple moral lesson. The novel complicates the idea of a fair exchange by leaving open whether the springs are truly supernatural or a shared delusion. Jackie’s therapist suggests that the family suffers from folie à famille—a shared delusional disorder—and warns her to stay away from the pool. This psychological explanation offers a rational counterpoint to the supernatural events. Yet the novel’s ending, in which the narrator is dead and speaks to Lexie, confirms that the water’s power is real, at least within the story’s logic.

The contradiction lies in the characters’ agency. They make wishes freely, but the springs seem to manipulate outcomes in ways they cannot foresee. Ethel’s wish for a child leads to a daughter who blames her for a drowning; Jackie’s wish for something bad to happen to Lexie leads to Lexie’s death; Lexie’s wish for Jax back leads to both of them drowning. The price is never what the wisher expects. It is often paid by innocent bystanders—Rita, for example, drowns because of the pool’s power, even though she did not make a wish. The springs do not discriminate between the wisher and the wished-for.

Another complexity is that the price is not always immediate. Ethel’s wish is granted in the 1920s, but the cost manifests in 1972 with Rita’s death. The novel suggests that the springs’ debts are collected over generations, making the theme even more haunting. The characters are trapped in a cycle of hope and loss, each new wish creating a new tragedy.

Study Questions

How does Ethel’s wish for a child illustrate the theme that miracles come with a price?

Answer: Ethel wishes for a child at the springs and becomes pregnant with Maggie, but Maggie is born with a life-threatening heart condition. The only cure is the spring water itself, which ties Maggie’s survival to the very force that later claims her daughter Rita. Ethel’s reflection that “miracles are not without their price” directly links her wish to the generational grief that follows.

What is the significance of Jackie’s childhood wish, and how does it affect her adult life?

Answer: Jackie wishes that something bad would happen to Lexie because she feels overshadowed. The wish is granted when Lexie drowns in the pool years later. Jackie is consumed by guilt, believing her wish caused her sister’s death. The wish demonstrates that the springs answer even petty, jealous desires, and the price is the loss of a sibling and a lifetime of remorse.

In what way does Lexie’s wish to have Jax back subvert the idea of a happy reunion?

Answer: Lexie wishes for Jax to return to her life, but the only way the springs can fulfill that wish is through death. In the epilogue, the narrator reveals that both sisters got their wishes when she drowned, and they are reunited in the pool. The wish for closeness becomes a permanent, watery embrace, showing that the springs’ gifts are always twisted.

How do the symbols of the sparrow and the rose garden reinforce the theme of wishes and their costs?

Answer: The sparrow egg is a folk remedy that fails, representing false hope, while the sparrow itself is a fragile creature linked to Maggie and Rita. The rose garden, where Ethel learns about the springs, is beautiful but has thorns, mirroring the way wishes are attractive but dangerous. Both symbols emphasize that hope is delicate and that beauty often hides pain.

Does the novel present the springs as truly supernatural, or could the events be explained psychologically?

Answer: The novel leaves room for doubt through Jackie’s therapist, who suggests a shared delusional disorder. However, the supernatural elements—Lexie’s ghost, the narrator’s death and continued consciousness, and the consistent pattern of wishes being granted—strongly support a real, malevolent power. The contradiction between psychological and supernatural explanations adds to the theme’s complexity, as characters are never sure if they are bargaining with a force or with their own minds.