Whenever you are asked a
question like this it is vitally important to begin by looking at the quote that is referred to
in context and then to try and relate it to the theme or message of the story. This quote that
you have identified appears when the family have a party to celebrate Lindsey and Samuel's
engagement. As the family engage in many toasts and also eat brownies, it is only Buckley who
aactually sees Susie:
He saw my shape and face, which had
not changed--the hair still parted down the middle, the chest still flat and hips
undeveloped--and wanted to call out my name. It was only a moment, and then I was
gone.
Note the implications of this quote. Firstly, Susie
is still "with" her family and very much involved and caught up in their lives.
Although she is dead, she has not left them and is still "living" in a sense in the
real world. She has not yet been able to move on and come to terms with her own death and
absence from her family. However, at the same time, this ability to be with her family is
profoundly limited. Buckley is only able to see her for a "moment" before she
disappears again. The significance could refer to the family's own process of coping with
Susie's disappearance and suspected death. Having been a very real presence in the days after
her murder, Susie now only flashes up as a character occasionally. They are beginning to move
on.
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