Music appears as a motif throughout the novel, haunting Louise’s steps and reminding her of her sister, beginning with Caroline’s musical talent as a young girl. Music follows Louise from the second chapter onward, as Caroline plays the piano in their home, performs at school concerts, causes the family financial hardship with her lessons on the mainland, and finally steals Louise’s chance to escape when the Captain gives Caroline the money to attend school in Baltimore.

However, Louise clearly takes pride in her sister’s ability, even as she also feels jealous of the attention it garners. She describes Caroline’s singing during the Christmas concert with evocative imagery: “Caroline’s voice came suddenly like a single beam of light across the darkness” (34). She sings the Christmas hymn, “I Wonder as I Wander,” with a clear, beautiful voice that leaves Louise “shaking, perhaps shattering” (35). The novel is brought full circle at the end in a couple of different ways, one of which is the return of this song in the final lines. As Louise walks home in the snow, she hears someone in her Appalachian village home singing “a melody so sweet and pure that [she] had to hold [herself] to keep from shattering” (244).