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Before I Fall,
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Niki
I always thought the mention of butterflies in the book was related to the "butterfly effect"--the idea that one little thing can change everything in a huge way. Her friend Ally also mentions she heard once that a burp can cause a thousand monarchs to take off halfway around the world (very much paraphrasing here; I couldn't find the quote online), but Sam refers back to this a few times throughout the book.
“It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.”
The book is about choice and consequence, and how huge of an impact your actions may have on someone (i.e. Juliet) without you even realizing the severity. When she saves Juliet at the end of the book, death no longer scares her because she knows she died with purpose, and she is no longer haunted by the mistakes she made in her life or the hurt she caused people. So in that sense, she is freed.
“It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.”
The book is about choice and consequence, and how huge of an impact your actions may have on someone (i.e. Juliet) without you even realizing the severity. When she saves Juliet at the end of the book, death no longer scares her because she knows she died with purpose, and she is no longer haunted by the mistakes she made in her life or the hurt she caused people. So in that sense, she is freed.
Olya
Well, if talk about butterflies specifically, this is the symbol of her falling in love. She had this dream about flying with butterflies just after kissing with Kent, so it looks pretty obvious for me, although I may be mistaken.
Grace
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