We Are the Brennans

The kitchen table in the Brennan family house is a motif that helps drive the theme of The Importance of Family Unity. The Brennans’ kitchen table acts as a setting for many scenes in the novel. One example of the Brennans’ kitchen table being a vital symbol is when Jackie and Sunday sit Denny down to discuss his financial troubles. Jackie states that “[T]he kitchen table had been the center of their universe for many years. Everything else—school, friends, jobs—had revolved around this space” (104). At the novel’s end, the family holds an ice cream social at the dinner table after Kale returns to the Brennans with Sunday following his separation. The kitchen table also acts as the setting where the Brennans, except Shane, learn that Mickey killed Billy Walsh and realize they must make a plan to protect him. The Brennans’ kitchen table is the emotional cornerstone of the house, where the family can connect and discuss their problems.

The postcard of Magens Bay that Sunday bought and gave to Kale years ago symbolizes the hope Sunday and Kale had of a happy marriage and life together as a family. Before Sunday’s miscarriage, she hoped to elope with Kale to Magens Bay in St.