Same Time Next Summer

In Same Time Next Summer, the ocean serves as a symbol of renewal. Whenever Sam is swimming in the ocean, she feels her troubles dissipate. She feels “unburdened and strong” (29) when she’s in the water and able to sort through her worries without feeling weighed down by them. Spending time in the ocean with her family and friends also rejuvenates Sam and reminds her of the close connections she fostered at the beach and once cherished. Monaghan highlights Sam’s Journeys of Self-Discovery and Personal Growth using the sensory elements of the ocean as a motif representing renewal. The water rejuvenates Sam emotionally and physically, connecting her to the memories of her childhood and thus, to her authentic self.

The motif of Wyatt’s songs point to The Challenge of Navigating Past and Present Relationships, as the trajectory of his love songs about Sam mirror the trajectory of their relationship over time, connecting their past to their present. Monaghan positions his song “Sam, I Am” as a symbol of his love for Sam that provides a bridge between their childhood relationship and their adult connection. Wyatt writes the song not long after their breakup as his way of expressing his enduring love for Sam despite the ways he hurt her. Sam reflects that the lyrics are “about catching the breath of the person you’re in love with and the rhythm of the music put[s] [Sam] right back in the treehouse” (116). Even before she knows that Wyatt wrote the song and that it’s about them, it evokes the energy, intensity, and emotions of the summer they fell in love whenever she hears it. In Chapter 43, when Sam hears Wyatt perform the song for the first time and discovers that it’s not Missy McGee’s original work, but Wyatt’s, it marks a turning point in their romantic arc and allows them to talk about their sustained feelings for one another for the first time since reuniting.

Throughout the novel, the treehouse symbolizes the physical and emotional connection that ties Sam and Wyatt’s past to their present. Frank and Michael help Wyatt “build [the] treehouse in the oak tree between their pool and the dunes” when Wyatt is 10 years old (15). They spend their days collecting materials “at junkyards and shipyards all over Long Island” (15). Once the treehouse is built, it quickly becomes Sam and Wyatt’s private hangout—the place where they are the most themselves and the most connected to each other. Sam often lies in bed and hears Wyatt playing his guitar in the treehouse and sneaks out to join him. Sometimes the characters sketch, play music, and talk in the treehouse. Monaghan also makes the treehouse the site of Sam and Wyatt’s first sexual experience with each other as teens.

Monaghan emphasizes the treehouse as symbolic of the love between her two romantic leads when Sam sees the treehouse again in the narrative present. The sight of it immediately reminds her of her past with Wyatt. As the two reconnect in the present, the treehouse gives them a place to have their first in-depth, adult conversation in which they confront hurts of the past. While they have both changed, the treehouse grounds them in the soil of their childhood connection. They are free to be themselves in this space. This is also why Sam starts spending time here after she returns to Long Island in Part 2 and why she and Wyatt sexually reconnect in this setting in Chapter 61.