Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
If there's one thing we know for sure, it's that mice aren't great with time. Helena tells us about how poor she is at keeping track of time over and over and over again… and then she tells us just one more time just to make sure we've got it down pat. Okay, Helena—we get it.
The first time Helena tells us about time, she says that it's always "running out":
We lingered over our coffee as the kitchen clocks struck, and then again. We are not good about time, we mice. For us, time always seems to be running out. (2.18)
Helena can definitely look on the bright side of things sometimes, but when it comes to time, she can be a serious downer. In fact, time never seems to be on the mice's side—Helena's always worried about time moving too quickly. Just take a look at her tone in the quote above. It sounds to us like she wishes she could slow time down.
So what's up with all this worrying about time? We already know that Helena is pretty scared of death—she's lost her mom, pops, and two older sisters—so she knows just how precious each moment is. And we're thinking that she's pretty nervous about time running out for the rest of her family.
On the plus side, with time always running out, Helena makes some seriously daring decisions. So maybe all this daunting time imagery actually ends up being a good thing. What do you think?