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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