Significance of floods

A flood signifies the washing away of the old order, loss, renewal, death, rebirth, fertility, new life, and change. There are multiple floods in All My Puny Sorrows. Harking back to Noah and the biblical flood they all symbolize the same thing, from the first flood in Lottie's bathroom, to the flooded river in Winnipeg, to the floodway Yoli visits, to the flood in Yoli’s basement back in Toronto. Toews uses floods to foreshadow Elf’s suicide and Tina’s death. She uses the water as a symbol of grief and to show that life goes on even after a great loss.