Hide and Seeker

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness and death.

Justin’s puzzle piece symbolizes both his grief over his mother’s death and nostalgia for their time together. The puzzle piece stays in his pocket for most of the novel, indicating its status as a cherished item. Justin finds it meaningful because it connects to his deceased mother: “Every night, even when she was sick, we’d work on a different puzzle. We completed all of them except…I tug the piece from my pocket and stare at it. It’s blue and orange. A tiny portion of the sun setting behind a mountain” (38). The piece that Justin carries with him is from the final incomplete puzzle they worked on before his mother’s death. The piece’s image of a setting sun also hints that Justin’s time with his mother is over and that he must move forward from his grief to experience positive change.

Though a symbol of loss, the puzzle piece also provides Justin with solace and relief. Numerous times, he clings to it for strength, finding comfort even during his worst anxiety attacks: “My chest tightens. I stuff my trembling hand into the right back pocket of my jeans and clutch a knobby puzzle piece.