The television (motif and symbol)
Throughout Don't Let Me Be Lonely, the television is a recurring motif and symbol. The speaker uses the television as a motif to anchor discussion of the media and political situations. The motif bleeds into the theme of television and its reverberance in our life. As a symbol, the television represents collective American identity, as it is normalized throughout the text as an "everyday" object that people turn to for their news, entertainment, gossip, and more. Additionally, the ads, snippets of conversation, ideas, themes, etc that Rankine sees on the TV are notable because they are intrinsically tied to this issue of national identity as well as a feeling of "numbness" or exceptionalism that distances viewers from whatever they see on the TV screen.
Death (motif)
Death is a commonly recurring motif throughout Don't Let Me Be Lonely. As a motif, death allows the speaker to reflect on her own responses to mortality and the deaths of those around her. Death's presence in this work provides the reader with a plethora of gloomy or gruesome situations, and it also heightens the stakes of the issues that are at hand in the work. The underlying sense is that if a matter is so important as to be considered life-or-death, it should be paid attention to. Rankine uses this reaction to death to discuss many different kinds of situations, from popular culture to current events.
the liver (symbol and motif)
In Don't Let Me Be Lonely, the liver acts as a symbol for the writing process. Like the liver, which filters the blood, the writer must sift through everything that comes to them and keep the good and throw out the bad. The speaker also compares the liver to the whole world near the end of the work: "The world, like a giant liver, receives everyone and everything, including these words" (129). As a motif, the liver is connected to the themes of mental health and medication and the gray area between life and death. In this work, the use of medication is a double-edged sword—it can save your life, but it can also put one of your most important internal organs at risk.
The story of the girl on the roof (allegory)
The story of the girl on the roof in Part 5 is an allegory for the common failings of first responders to provide adequate help for those who are considered "in need." The girl goes onto the roof to escape the heat, but people read this as her being suicidal. When the first responders arrive, they do not listen to her account and instead force her to the police station and the hospital. Rankine uses this allegory to show how institutionalized forms of help often miss the mark by ignoring the specific needs of the individual.
Medication (motif)
Medication is a recurring motif throughout Don't Let Me Be Lonely. The speaker is deeply concerned with the issue of medication throughout the work, both in terms of its potential risks and life-saving possibilities. Ultimately, medication is an ambivalent force in this work—the speaker is fascinated by it, uses it herself, and yet fears it and criticizes the huge pharmaceutical companies that withhold access to necessary medication around the world. The huge presence of anti-depressants in this work does a lot of work to help de-stigmatize these kinds of medication through visibility and positive connotations.
