Mirrors
“Lemonade,” “Hello Cheeverland, Goodbye,” and “The Book of Pins” each prominently feature a mirror and several other stories also include scenes involving a mirror. The reflections that character see of themselves is more than literally physical. The mirror becomes a symbolic pathway for discovering self-identity.
Windows
If the reflective surfaces of the glass of mirrors offer a symbolic path to self-identity, then the ability to peer through the glass of windows becomes a symbolic opportunity to identify what others are doing. Scenes of people peering throughout windows at others or obstructing others from peering at them by using window coverings permeate through all the stories of this collection.
Doors
“Lovers, Finders, Strangers at the Door” is far from the only story here in which doors play important roles symbolically. The door is somewhat akin to the window in that being left open is an invitation extended to others while doors slammed shut is essentially a “keep out” sign. Doors are both opened and slammed shut all through the collection, but are raised to higher level of metaphorical important in “Out of the Silence” with the added symbolism of doorways into the mind.
Repetition
The repetition of words, phrases, and, in one memorable case, an entire paragraph recurs often enough to raise its use to the status of symbol. The repetition becomes a means of conveying the cyclical nature of life as well as the tendency of people to either actually resist change and evolution or the perception of character trait about them by others. “The Book of Pins” begins and ends with the exact same paragraph altered only by the omission of two key words.
Silence
The words “silent” or “silence” explicitly occur nearly a hundred times over the course of the collection and when the words themselves are not used, imagery conveys the same circumstance. Because one of the overarching themes connecting the stories is the difficulty of communicating with others, these silences become symbolic expressions of the isolation and alienation that keep humans from connecting and understanding each other.
