“I loved you!” This is Medea wielding the knife. This is Medea cutting. I rake my fingernails across his face, leave pink scratch that turn red, fill with blood.” (pg. 204) 

There is no doubt that Esch and Medea are similar and it is in this quote that Ward explicitly connects them as well as Jason and Manny. Esch refers to her physically harming Manny as Medea wielding the knife. In “The Quest of the Golden Fleece” Medea does not physically harm Jason but rather harms those close and dear to him (his two children and his other wife). Earlier in the book, it is clearly seen that whenever Esch is simply infatuated by Manny, similar to the way how Medea is completely in love with Jason, and it seems that this one person (Jason/Manny) is what both women’s lives seemingly revolve around throughout the stories until both realize that the love they have for their partners is not reflected back upon them and they cut this strong bond between themselves and their partner. For Esch, it shows her independence and her strength as a woman and a mother.

This is a painting of Medea about to kill her children as a way of hurting Jason and separating herself from him. It was painted by Eugene Delacroix in 1838 and currently hangs in the Louvre in Paris. 

I believe that this image of a butterfly represents Esch at the end of the book the best because butterflies are known to be a symbolic representation of new life. Not only is Esch going to be bringing a new life into the world but throughout the course of the novel to where and who Esch is at the end, it seems as though she has created somewhat of a new life for herself where some of her ideas and thoughts have changed or developed, she has let go of Manny, and is focused on different as well as more important things in her life, especially her pregnancy.