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Alice inherited a beautiful blue butterfly necklace from her mother, Sarah, after she died during Alice’s freshman year of college. This butterfly necklace symbolizes the beauty of life—namely Alice’s life—and the importance of hanging on to those beautiful moments no matter how short or long they are. When Sarah was alive, she only wore the necklace during the most special occasions. After Alice’s diagnosis, however, Alice begins wearing her mother’s necklace all the time. Not only does it remind her of her mother, but it reminds her of something Sarah told her about butterflies: “just because their lives were short didn’t mean they were tragic.” This message becomes increasingly relevant in Alice’s own life as her Alzheimer’s gradually robs her of her memory, reasoning skills, and independence. At 50 years old, Alice is much younger than most Alzheimer’s patients, and she’s considering the end of her life far before her time. But, as she soon realizes, that doesn’t mean her life is tragic—she still has much more to celebrate than she does to mourn. Alice continues wearing the butterfly necklace all the time, and it reminds her of all the beautiful moments she can still enjoy even though she won’t have long to remember them, including the birth of her grandchildren, eating ice cream, and spending time getting closer to her daughter Lydia.
The Butterfly Necklace Quotes in Still Alice
The Still Alice quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Butterfly Necklace. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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May 2004
Quotes
She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of the butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother had comforted her and told her not to be sad for the butterflies, that just because their lives were short didn’t mean they were tragic. Watching them flying in the warm sun among the daisies in their garden, her mother had said to her, See, they have a beautiful life. Alice liked remembering that.
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July 2004
Quotes
Moonlight reflected off her right wrist. SAFE RETURN was engraved on the front of the flat, two-inch, stainless steel bracelet. A one-eight-hundred number, her identification, and the words Memory Impaired were etched on the reverse side. Her thoughts then rode a series of waves, traveling from unwanted jewelry to her mother’s butterfly necklace, traversing from there to her plan for suicide, to the books she planned to read, and finally stranded themselves on the common fates of Virginia Woolf and Edna Pontellier. It would be so easy. She could swim straight out toward Nantucket until she was too tired to continue.
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The Butterfly Necklace Symbol Timeline in Still Alice
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Butterfly Necklace appears in Still Alice. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
May 2004
...they go up to the dementia ward. On the way up, the woman compliments Alice’s butterfly necklace . The necklace had belonged to Sarah, who had only worn it on special occasions,...
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July 2004
...swims, her Alzheimer’s bracelet catches the moonlight and she finds herself thinking about her mother’s butterfly necklace , her suicide plan, and all the books she wanted to read. She thinks about...
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March 2005
...notices John, Anna, Charlie, Tom, Mary, Cathy, Dan Sullivan, and Dr. Sullivan. She touches her butterfly necklace and begins her talk.
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Epilogue
...baby and patiently allows him to play with her hair and face. He finds her butterfly necklace and starts playing with that, too.
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