The USS Ling

The USS Ling is used in the novel as a symbol of dormancy, hiding, and buried possibility. The submarine has long been laid to rest in the Hackensack River. The submarine represents how Vic feels about himself at the beginning of the novel: lost in the void. The submarine is an object that connects Mad and Vic. Eventually, they meet at night at the river pier, by the submarine. In this way, the submarine also stands for the beginning of a love that has not yet to risen to the surface. It speaks to the individual power that each teen will help the other learn to see. It represents the potential of the hidden.