Nightingales are a common symbol in Western literature often associated with female sacrifice and lost or unrequited love. The significance of this shines throughout the novel, starting with Isabelle and Vianne’s family name: Rossignol is French for “nightingale.” By choosing “the Nightingale” as Isabelle’s code name, Hannah ensures Isabelle’s story is seen as one of sacrifice. After longing for love her entire life, Isabelle finally finds it with Gaëtan, but their work for the resistance keeps them apart, culminating in Isabelle dying in his arms after the war ends.

Vianne and her father Julien’s stories also draw on the nightingale’s symbolism. By serving in WWI, Julien effectively forfeits his chance at personal happiness with his wife and family, and years later, he gives his own life to save Isabelle. Vianne makes numerous sacrifices to shield those she loves, including killing Beck and allowing her father to die without knowing about her attempts to save Jewish children because she did not want to worry him. Most notably, she allows Von Richter to repeatedly rape her to protect Ari, even though this abuse introduces a permanently bittersweet note into her relationship with Antoine:

She could tell him about Beck, even that she’d killed him, but she could never tell Antoine she’d been raped.