The Pull of the Dead and the Temptation of Reunion in Jennifer McMahon's The Drowning Kind
The Seductive Promise of the Water: Reunion as a Fatal Bargain in The Drowning Kind
In Jennifer McMahon's The Drowning Kind, the spring-fed pool at Sparrow Crest is more than a setting; it is a character with its own will, a door between worlds that whispers promises of reunion with the dead. The novel's central thematic claim is that the desire to reunite with a lost loved one becomes a seductive, all-consuming force that drives characters to make fatal bargains with the water. The water appears to offer a way back to the dead, but this promise is a deceptive trap: the dead are not truly restored, and the living who pursue them are pulled into a state between life and death, losing themselves in the process. Through the childhood games of the Metcalf sisters, the desperate grief of their father Ted, and the tragic fates of Ethel Monroe and her descendants, McMahon traces how the pull of the dead transforms love into a destructive obsession, ultimately revealing that the only true reunion the water offers is a shared drowning.
The Pull Begins in Childhood: The Dead Game and the Whispered Wishes
The novel opens with the prologue, set in 2000, where young sisters Lexie and Jax play the Dead Game in their grandmother's pool. They float facedown, holding their breath with eyes open, despite their fear of the cold, dark water that smells of rot and sulphur. This game is a deliberate imitation of death, a way to flirt with the boundary between the living and the dead. Lexie, the bolder sister, claims that their aunt Rita, who drowned in the pool at age seven, lives in the water and comes out at night. This assertion plants the seed of the pool as a place where the dead are not gone but merely waiting. The girls' grandmother has strict rules—never swim at night—but the pull of the water is stronger than fear. The prologue ends with the sisters still floating, alone but together, suggesting that the water already holds a strange allure for them.
The childhood wish that Jackie (Jax) makes in Chapter One deepens this pull. In a memory, Lexie whispers wishes into the pool at night, and Jackie, feeling overshadowed by her sister, whispers a wish that something bad would happen to Lexie. This wish, made in the presence of the water, becomes a fatal bargain. The pool, as a supernatural entity, seems to grant wishes but at a terrible cost. Jackie's wish is not for reunion but for harm, yet it sets the stage for the novel's central tragedy: Lexie's death and Jackie's subsequent guilt. The water's power to grant wishes, even malicious ones, establishes it as a force that responds to human desire, but always with a price.
The Temptation in Adulthood: Ted's Desperate Act and Jax's Near-Drowning
The theme intensifies in Chapter Thirty-Three, where the adult Jax returns to Sparrow Crest after Lexie's death. Her father, Ted, has become unhinged by grief. He believes he sees Lexie outside and runs to the pool, jumping in. Jax dives in to save him but is pulled under by something—she sees Lexie and many drowned people, feels herself beginning to glow, and is only saved when her father pulls her back up. This scene is the novel's most explicit depiction of the water's pull: it offers a vision of the dead, a reunion that is both beautiful and terrifying. Jax sees Lexie clearly, her appendectomy scar, her swimmer's torso, and feels her sister's cold hand pulling her deeper. The water shows her a galaxy of glowing people—the drowned—and Lexie's voice tells her, We're actually going to do it! Get to the other side of the world. The temptation is overwhelming, but Jax fights it, and her father's shout brings her back.
Ted's earlier act of dumping Lexie's ashes into the pool, as described in Chapter Twenty-Five, is a direct attempt to bring her back. He tells Diane, It's what she wants. She told me. It'll help her come back. Come back and stay! He believes the water can resurrect his daughter, and he is willing to sacrifice her physical remains to achieve that. This act is a fatal bargain: he gives the water the last trace of Lexie's body, hoping to receive her spirit in return. The water seems to respond—Jax sees a pale hand rising from the water—but it is a fleeting illusion. Ted's obsession grows, leading him to jump into the pool in Chapter Thirty-Three, convinced he sees Lexie. His desire for reunion overrides his survival instinct, and he nearly drowns. The novel shows that the temptation to reunite with the dead is not limited to the young; it can consume even a grieving parent.
The Fatal Bargain Across Generations: Ethel, Eliza, and the Price of Miracles
The theme is rooted in the novel's historical layers, particularly the story of Ethel Monroe, the grandmother who built Sparrow Crest. In Chapter Thirty-Four, set in 1972, a 95-year-old Ethel reflects on her life. She remembers her husband Will, her daughter Maggie, and her grandchildren. She recalls throwing her old diary into the pool, and her granddaughter Linda diving in to retrieve it. She also remembers her youngest granddaughter, Rita, who claimed to have a friend named Martha who lived at the bottom of the pool. Ethel warns Rita to stay away, but the pull is already there. The chapter reveals that Ethel made a bargain with the springs: she wished for a child, and the water granted her wish, but at a price. When Maggie's daughter drowns, Maggie blames Ethel, saying that if Ethel had let her die as an infant, this wouldn't have happened. Ethel reflects that miracles come with a price. This is the novel's clearest statement of the theme: the water grants wishes, but the cost is always death.
The character of Eliza Harding, the wife of the hotel owner, embodies the same pattern. In Chapter Fourteen, Ethel receives a letter from Eliza's husband saying that Eliza drowned in the springs. Ethel dreams of Eliza coming up from the water, pale and green, with weeds in her hair, and snatching her baby, saying, Don't you understand? She belongs to the springs. This dream reveals the water's possessive nature: it claims the dead and does not let them go. Eliza, who was once a living woman, becomes a malevolent spirit, a warning of what happens to those who try to reunite with the dead. The water does not restore the dead; it traps them, turning them into agents of the same pull that drew them in.
Complexity and Contradiction: The Water's Dual Nature and the Illusion of Reunion
The novel complicates the theme by presenting the water as both a source of healing and a source of destruction. The springs are rumored to have medicinal properties, and people come to bathe in them for cures. But the same water that heals also drowns. The epigraph warns of a figure in the water who invites the listener to come swimming, and the rhyme says her voice would be the last thing they ever know. This duality is central: the water offers the promise of reunion, but that promise is a lie. The dead are not truly alive; they are trapped in a liminal state, glowing with a greenish light, as Jax sees in Chapter Thirty-Three. They are not restored to life but are instead frozen in a watery purgatory, unable to leave except at night, as the epilogue reveals.
The epilogue, set in 2020, shows the narrator (Jax) revealing that she is dead and can only leave the water at night. She says that both she and Lexie got their wishes when she drowned. This is the ultimate fulfillment of the theme: Jax's childhood wish for something bad to happen to Lexie, and Lexie's wish to have Jax back, are both granted, but the cost is Jax's life. The reunion is not a joyful one; it is a shared drowning. The narrator and Lexie walk out to the pool and slip into the black water together, suggesting that the pull of the dead is inescapable. The novel thus critiques the temptation to reunite with the dead, showing that it leads not to healing but to a perpetuation of death.
The symbols reinforce this theme. The paper boat, which appears in the novel as a child's toy, becomes a metaphor for messages sent to the dead, fragile and easily lost. The sparrow, a bird associated with the soul, appears as a symbol of the dead's attempt to return, but it is always a fleeting presence. The peacock, with its showy feathers, represents the vanity of seeking immortality through the water, while the rose garden, beautiful but decaying, mirrors the false promise of the springs. These symbols underscore the novel's warning: the desire for reunion is a seductive illusion that ultimately destroys those who pursue it.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does the Dead Game in the prologue establish the theme of the pull of the dead?
The Dead Game, where Lexie and Jax float facedown in the pool, is a deliberate imitation of death. It introduces the idea that the water is a place where the boundary between life and death is thin, and that the dead (like Rita) are believed to reside there. The game's danger and the girls' fear, combined with their willingness to continue, show that the pull of the dead is both terrifying and irresistible, setting the stage for the novel's central conflict.
2. What does Ted's act of dumping Lexie's ashes into the pool reveal about his character and the theme?
Ted's act is a desperate attempt to bring Lexie back, driven by his belief that the water can resurrect her. It reveals his overwhelming grief and his willingness to sacrifice her physical remains for a chance at reunion. This act is a fatal bargain: he gives the water the last trace of her body, hoping to receive her spirit in return. It demonstrates how the temptation to reunite with the dead can override reason and lead to destructive actions.
3. How does the character of Eliza Harding illustrate the consequences of trying to reunite with the dead?
Eliza, who drowned in the springs, appears in Ethel's dream as a malevolent spirit, pale and green, with weeds in her hair. She snatches Ethel's baby, saying the child belongs to the springs. Eliza's transformation from a living woman to a vengeful ghost shows that the water does not restore the dead but traps them, turning them into agents of the same pull that drew them in. Her fate warns that the dead cannot be truly brought back; they become something other, and their presence brings harm.
4. In what ways does the novel suggest that the water's promise of reunion is a lie?
The novel suggests the promise is a lie through the epilogue, where the narrator reveals she is dead and can only leave the water at night. The reunion with Lexie is not a joyful one but a shared drowning. Additionally, the drowned people Jax sees in Chapter Thirty-Three are not alive but glowing with a greenish light, trapped in a liminal state. The water does not restore life; it perpetuates death, and the characters who seek reunion are ultimately consumed by it.
5. How does the theme of the pull of the dead connect to the novel's symbols, such as the paper boat and the sparrow?
The paper boat, a fragile vessel, symbolizes messages sent to the dead, which are easily lost or destroyed. The sparrow, a bird associated with the soul, represents the dead's attempt to return, but it is always a fleeting presence, never a permanent one. These symbols reinforce the theme that the desire for reunion is a fragile, illusory hope. The water may seem to offer a way back, but like a paper boat, it cannot carry the living to the dead; it only leads to drowning.