Motif: Sarah's yellow bonnet
Sarah's yellow bonnet appears many times in the book. It's yellow, signifying brightness and cheeriness. It's not some dark brown or black, but a bright, happy color. Whenever Anna and Caleb are waiting on the front porch, waiting for Sarah to come from town, before they actually see Sarah, they see a yellow bonnet in a cloud of dust. Caleb exclaims, "Dust! ... Dust, and yellow bonnet!" The yellow bonnet is in a cloud of dust. So Sarah's yellow bonnet signifies how she will bring happiness and hope to Jacob, Anna, and Caleb. Their life was kind of like a cloud of dust after their mother died, and Sarah is like the light and hope the yellow bonnet represents.
Symbol: Three colored pencils.
At the end of the book, when Sarah comes back from town, she brings with her three colored pencils, in the colors of "gray and green and blue". When Caleb sees them he says, " Papa, come quickly! Sarah has brought the sea!" Of course, Sarah hasn't actually brought the sea, but the colored pencils symbolize it.
Allegory: The squall
The squall shows that the family can get through a problem. This squall comes banging on their door, causing much trouble. But the family unites and gets over it. Sarah and Jacob fix the roof while Caleb and Anna herd the animals into the barn. Then they all gather in the barn, and wait out the storm while the storm continues to bang against their door. Though there is much rain and much hail, it doesn't control them, and they get over the ordeal together as a family.
