Motif of the Cork People

Maynard uses the motif of the cork people to describe how real people, just like the cork people Eleanor and her children once launched in the brook, are impacted by the things that happen to them in their lives. The novel opens with Eleanor’s comparison of creating the cork people and launching them to the act of raising her children. Later, Eleanor makes her living off a children’s book patterned after the cork people. At Al and Teresa’s wedding, Toby gives the couple cork people, a symbol of their ability to weather any problems they might face.

Eleanor draws a parallel between creating and launching the cork people and raising children. Eleanor goes into detail about how her children made wine corks into people. They drew on faces and adorned them with hats and hair. Each of these cork...