What does The Sick-Box represent?

Coffins, or “sick-boxes,” symbolize vain hope and misunderstanding. The deceased characters of the novel remain in the bardo until they accept that they are dead and must pass on to their next lives. Thus, characters like Vollman and Bevins, who have not come to terms with their deaths, seek to delude themselves with the idea that they are merely sick and will recover. Therefore, they take to referring to things like coffins with less fatal sounding names, such as “sick-boxes.”