The Gloves: A Symbol of Care and Connection in Two Can Play

What Are the Gloves?

The gloves are a pair of black, well-insulated snow gloves that belong to Jesse Andrews. In Chapter 10, during an impromptu snowball fight between the Nephilim and FlyButter teams at the Mount Baker retreat, Viola Bowen struggles with the cold. Her crocheted cotton mittens become soaked during the battle, leaving her hands numb. Jesse notices her discomfort, removes her mittens, and wraps his own palms around her icy fingers before offering her his gloves. The text notes the gloves are "worn, and made for bigger hands," and when Viola takes them, she feels "a warmth that could come only from his body."

This act occurs at a moment of high tension—just after Jesse has confided that he has liked Viola for years, a revelation she initially struggles to accept. The gloves serve as a tangible extension of his confession, transforming words of past affection into present action.

Where the Gloves Recur

The gloves appear in two key scenes:

Chapter 10 (Snowball Fight): Jesse gives Viola his gloves during the fight after she refuses his help and he defends her from the cold. He takes her wrist and puts the gloves in her palm, an intimate gesture that contrasts with his earlier avoidance of her.
Chapter 12 (Three a.m. Return): Viola cannot sleep and decides to return the gloves to Jesse's room at three in the morning. This visit becomes the pretext for their first honest conversation about their feelings. She begins with "Thank you for the gloves," and the exchange leads to her confession that she used to have a crush on him, which in turn prompts Jesse to admit he has thought of her every day since the mistletoe incident.

The gloves themselves are not mentioned elsewhere in the novel, but their brief recurrence as a physical object bridges two pivotal emotional moments.

How the Meaning Changes

Initially, the gloves are purely practical. They protect Viola from frostbite and represent Jesse's observation of her needs—an unspoken act of care that contrasts with his earlier coldness. At this point, Viola is still wary; she has just learned that Jesse once liked her but rejected her publicly, and the gloves feel like a confusing overture.

By the time Viola returns them, the gloves have become a symbol of vulnerability and possibility. She uses them as an excuse to knock on his door, knowing she cannot resolve the tension between them without direct conversation. The return is not a rejection but a negotiation. Jesse offers the gloves again, and Viola declines, saying she has no plans to "frolic in the snow ever again." This playful refusal mirrors the way she simultaneously refuses to keep the object but chooses to keep the connection it forged.

The gloves thus evolve from an object of warmth to a catalyst for intimacy. They become the physical proof that Jesse's feelings are not just words—they are real enough to sacrifice his own comfort for her sake.

Character and Theme Connections

Characters

Jesse Andrews: The gloves reveal the gap between Jesse's public indifference and his private attentiveness. Throughout Chapters 3, 10, and 17, Jesse avoids eye contact with Viola yet performs small, considerate actions: carrying her duffel bag, catching her falling muffin, and later giving her gloves. The gloves are his most direct (nonverbal) declaration that he still cares.
Viola Bowen: Viola's frozen hands reflect her emotional state—numb after years of unreciprocated feelings. Accepting the gloves requires vulnerability, and returning them requires courage. Both acts mark her progression from guarded resentment to willingness to reconnect.
Otto and Mike: While not directly involved with the gloves, their distracting relationship subplot (Otto's hidden pining for Mike, which Jesse and Viola discuss in the hot tub) mirrors the theme of unrecognized care. Jesse notes that Otto is "obsessed" with Mike but hides it, much as Jesse himself hides his feelings.

Themes

Enemies to Lovers Romance: The gloves bridge the cold distance between two rivals. Before the snowball fight, Viola and Jesse have barely spoken; after, they share a moment of unguarded kindness that bypasses the usual competitive banter.
Forced Proximity: The retreat itself forces the characters together. The gloves emerge from the chaos of a team-building activity (the snowball fight) and become a private symbol of partnership that transcends studio rivalry.
Healing Through Vulnerability: Viola's admission that she "used to have a crush on you" follows directly from the gloves encounter. The object lowers her defenses, allowing honesty where there was only resentment.
Miscommunication and Missed Signals: Jesse's past rejection (the mistletoe incident) and his current silence leave Viola uncertain. The gloves bypass words—they are an unmistakable gesture that says what his tongue cannot.
Workplace Collaboration and Rivalry: The snowball fight itself is framed as Nephilim versus FlyButter. Jesse crossing the line to help Viola prefigures the collaboration on Limerence 3—the gloves are the first token of their professional union.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Jesse give Viola his gloves instead of simply telling her to go inside?

Jesse gives Viola his gloves because he recognizes that walking inside alone would isolate her from the team-building activity. In the snowball fight, Viola is helping Mila build a fort—a collaborative effort that fosters goodwill between the studios. By lending her his own gloves, Jesse allows her to stay outside without suffering, preserving her participation without public fuss. The gesture also lets him touch her (warming her hands first) and express care without verbal risk, a pattern he repeats throughout the novel.

2. What does the return of the gloves in Chapter 12 reveal about Viola's intentions?

When Viola returns the gloves at three in the morning, she claims it is merely to return borrowed property. However, she admits to herself that she "couldn't help herself" and uses the gloves as "the only excuse" to reach him. The return is transparently a pretext; she has already considered that she might lose one or both gloves, and she has no further need for them. By giving them back, she opens a door for conversation, proving she wants emotional clarity rather than a material token.

3. How do the gloves connect to the novel's broader use of cold as a metaphor?

Cold consistently symbolizes emotional distance in the novel. Viola hates the cold (Chapter 10), and Jesse says he does not "really feel it too much"—a revealing statement about his emotional armor. The gloves represent warmth transferred from him to her, literalizing the thaw between them. When Viola says she feels the cold less after he holds her hands, the narrative explicitly links physical warmth to emotional safety. Later, after their first sexual encounter, they watch falling snow from the window, now sharing warmth rather than fighting the cold.

4. In what way do the gloves complicate the miscommunication theme?

The gloves complicate miscommunication because they succeed where words fail. In Chapter 10, Jesse has just told Viola he liked her in the past, but her response is "dull" and resistant. Words spark confusion; the gloves produce clarity. Jesse's silent act of care bypasses the tangled history of rejection and pride, giving Viola evidence that his feelings are genuine. Objects often speak louder than language in Hazelwood's story, and the gloves are the clearest example of this principle in action.