Mare: A Butterfly for the Queen of the Universe
One of the things we did for our characters was give them symbols, butterflies, that embodied their personalities. It was helpful for us in narrowing down for ourselves who they were, for showing each other what we thought their personalities looked like, and for generally having a good time with clip art.
The big surprise for me in Mare’s character was the Queen of the Universe stuff. It was something that just turned up as I typed, that she considers herself Queen of the Universe and lets everybody know it; that her adoring assistant at the video store, Dreama, is a Queen of the Universe in training; that Mare has been telling people she’s Queen for so long that she really believes it and they’re starting to believe it, too; that they refer to her as Queen and introduce her to other people that way, so that when she begins to falter, they take it as a personal betrayal.
So of course when Mare goes to get her new butterfly tattoo, she wants an image that’s sturdy and queenly, nothing lacy, girly, or frilly for her. She needs something that looks like it pumps iron. It’s either a buff butterfly, she tells Mother of Mother’s Tattoos, or the Statue of Liberty, with whom she feels a kinship.
“She stands in one place holding a light for everybody else,” Mother said. “How is she like you?”
“She’s tall, everybody knows who she is, she’s a classy dresser, and nobody kicks her around,” Mare said. “And in moments of stress, I could beat somebody senseless with that big torch.”
But in the end, she skips Lady Liberty and goes for the butterfly, this one:
I thought it looked just like Mare: big and strong and beautiful, a Queen of the Universe butterfly if there ever was one, so that’s her symbol throughout the book.
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Oh, My.
Where was it placed?
Trailer trash license plate, Louis.
i like that butterfly. that’s my kind of butterfly.
actual, i do have a Queen of the Universe thing going to….i have a feeling i’m really going to recognize Mare. and i love her Liberty answer.
i LOVE the butterfly tattoo!!
it kinda reminds me of the black butterfly i have tattooed above my left hip. i got it because it was feminine without being girly…and i thought it had an innate strength about it, which is what i see when i look at Mare’s tattoo!
Now that’s a butterfly with attitude.
Love the butterfly. She could have said “beautiful” too. It really is quite beautiful.
It’s strong, bold, quirky. Just like a Fireside font.
I learned something new today: “Trailer trash license plate.” LOL. I’m assuming that’s the small of the back? But does calling it that imply Mare is trailer trash?
Yep, small of the back.
And I hope it isn’t calling Mare trailer trash because that’s where one of my tattoos is.
Love the tattoo! I’ve always wanted a butterfly tattoo, but found the ones I saw all fluffy and fluttery. I love Mare’s, and someday, when I get the courage to actually get a tattoo, it may well be Mare’s butterfly.
Um Whoops, didn’t mean to offend you, Jenny. I’ve always wanted one there myself (a dragon) but the whole needle thing turns me off. I’d just never heard that term before and thought it was amusing. Sorry.
Oh, I wasn’t offended. Sorry if it came across that way.
Just generally nattering on.
Help! Mare’s butterfly is missing and I’d lie to see it, could someone re-put it up?Please???
Sorry, I have no idea what happened there. I had to delete the image and reload it. Huh.
Thanks for catching it!
Thank you so much. Cute butterfly!