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Beechwood, the private island that Harris Sinclair owns near Martha’s Vineyard, and where he and his family spend their summers, symbolizes the family’s insularity, which Harris is largely responsible for. Literally separated from the rest of the world by water, the island is a world unto itself and represents a refuge for the Sinclair family. In addition, spending each summer on the island allows the family to further isolate themselves from the outside world, keeping strangers at a distance and ensuring that Harris has some degree of control over who comes into the inner circle of the Sinclair family.
The island is also a clear symbol of the Sinclair family’s immense wealth: one summer, Gat wonders out loud how it is possible that one person can actually own an island. Cady, Johnny, and Mirren have hardly given any thought to this question, as if this option were available to just about anyone. After the fire takes the lives of Gat, Johnny, and Mirren, Harris declines to have the police come to the island to investigate and is very careful about what details of the tragedy are released to the press—once more, he uses Beechwood Island as a means to maintain the private, insular nature of the Sinclair family.
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Beechwood Island Symbol Timeline in We Were Liars
The timeline below shows where the symbol Beechwood Island appears in We Were Liars. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Welcome
...of Cady’s father and get rid of them. Then they pack up and go to Beechwood, the private island that Penny’s father, Harris, owns, to forget about the whole thing. Harris...
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Cady spends her summers on Beechwood with her three closest friends: Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. They are all about the same...
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...and Cady and Penny are busy cleansing him from their lives, so they arrive at Beechwood a week later than the rest of the Sinclair clan. Emotionally raw from her father’s...
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...Scotland, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Cady doesn’t want to go—she wants to return to Beechwood and see the Liars, and anyway, her father had not kept in touch with her...
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Part 2: Vermont
...and New Zealand for the following summer, but Cady refuses—she is ready to return to Beechwood and find out what happened the night of her accident. But the trip is already...
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...Harris leaves Burlington, Penny cancels the Australia trip and decides to let Cady go to Beechwood for the summer. She then has many hushed conversations with her sisters, and Cady can...
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Part 3: Summer Seventeen
As Cady arrives on Beechwood, she sees that Clairmont, the main house on the island, has been completely rebuilt. In...
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...or been to his apartment in New York City. He is a different person on Beechwood, where he is the only non-white person, with the exception of Ginny and Pablo. Cady...
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It is Cady’s third week on Beechwood Island, she is still getting migraines, and her supply of medicine is getting low. She...
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Part 4: Look, a Fire
There is a fire on the southern part of Beechwood Island. Clairmont is on fire, and there is no one to help. Cady can see...
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...confirm this statement. Cady knew that she was supposed to say she loved Windemere and Beechwood, and Harris, and everything he stood for, but she was not interested in playing the...
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...before, and Gat responded that he didn’t want to ruin the joy of being on Beechwood for the summer—he wanted to imagine that life is perfect while he is there. The...
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...going to do. Gat was especially angry, because he knew he wouldn’t come back to Beechwood. If Carrie ended up marrying Ed, they would be cut off, and if she left...
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Part 5: The Truth
...own, rather than hearing from her family, and that she should not go back to Beechwood immediately, until she had time to heal—both physically and mentally. She also displayed a strange...
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...She mourns the version of Gat who she never got to know—the one off of Beechwood Island—and now she will never know. She then thinks about how it must have felt...
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...bothering him about it so they can go get fudge. When she is back on Beechwood Island, Cady goes to Cuddledown and cleans up the mess she made; when she finishes,...
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