Memory
Because this is a memoir, the first imagery is memory since that is the literal lens through which this story is approached and salvaged from the chaos of lived time. Craig cannot tell a story with all the facts of the matter, nor can he possibly capture the insanely complicated details of any experience, so he must choose with artistic selection which details to salvage from his memory and which details he feels comfortable committing to oblivion. This is symbolized most clearly in his decision to save a blanket and destroy the rest of the evidence of his relationship to Raina. This book documents what he attempted back then to destroy.
Religious childhood
The imagery of religion is difficult to weigh because it is attached to so many different kinds of people and experience. On the one hand there are mystics and saints who use religion to expand their mind and the minds of their students, and on the other hand there are the forceful uses of religion as authority for power. To a child, the issue is complicated by the implicit trust of the parent. That religious trust makes the child absolutely subject to indoctrination, except when religion brings them into crisis with their desires. That is the imagery that most shapes the tone of this book. The protagonist is a child who wants to be good and who wants to be loved, but the love of his sweetheart becomes a new source of religious experience outside of his home.
Camp imagery
Church camp is typically fun, for the most part. It is the first time that most religious children are allowed to be away from home with a community of their peers who they don't know. As an event, camps are notorious for scandal because the setting is so intentionally innocent, but the children use their freedom from parents to experiment with their personality, their way of life, and their desires. The camp is ironic imagery which simultaneously suggests the authority of adults, but only as the soil from which autonomy emerges among the students. This is often because of romantic attraction among them.
Forbidden love and coming of age
The author reports a religious journey in this book. He explains through this painful tale of confusion, shame, and loss a passionate story about the depth of his experience, the romantic nature of his character, and his willingness to believe in himself—even though he feels ashamed of his own nature because of religious beliefs that shaped his original opinion of reality. The forbidden aspect of his love with this Christian girl is a symbol for his coming of age because his taste of forbidden paradise makes him an exile of his own existence. Before long, he sets out into the world like Cain or his primordial father.
