Pool of degradation
In the first installment, the narrator has a dream in which boys in a dirty lake offer him some garbage to eat and then become insulted when he refuses. The lake is a symbol in this context because it is used to suggest degradation. The lake is described as being dirty and filled with garbage, thus transmitting this idea even further.
Symbol for safety
One of the most important symbols in the novel is the woods used here as a symbol for safety. The healthy kids use the woods as a place where they can hide and talk about subjects frowned upon or consume drugs and alcohol. The woods are later used by the ones affected by the bug as a safe place, a place where they can live without being scared of being ostracized by the rest of the society.
Symbol for normality
In the beginning in the fifth part, a group of children with the bug are presented sitting around a fire, trying to cook something for themselves. The children talk with one another about the things they missed and one of the girls around the fire mentioned how she would like to eat scrambled eggs. The eggs are something common, plain, but are used in this context as a symbol for normality, something the normal people do not think about because they take it as something natural.
Symbol for change
Another element that appears numerous times in the novel are the clouds that appear after a period of happiness and peace. If in once chapter the characters are happy, in the next one they will describe the dark clouds looming over everything and everyone. The clouds are thus used in this context as symbols to suggest change. The type of change they suggest is a rapid and often devastating one.
Trash
Another common motif found in the novel is the presence of trash. It appears as everywhere the main characters go, they face a mountain of trash that stands in their way. The trash is so present that is appears in the dreams the characters have. The trash is also a symbol, used to represent the moral degradation of the world. Thus, in this sense, the trash is used here both as a symbol and as a common motif.
