Describe symbolism in She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

There are several sections of symbolism that are important to the story but are not always overly obvious. The whales are among the most obvious. Dolores goes to a beach where there's a dead whale and her therapist suggests that she was searching for her mother. Dolores says that she knows that her doctor wants her to understand that she was searching for her dead mother under the whale, and she seems to agree that it could be true. At the end of this story, Dolores and her husband, Thayer, again visit the ocean and this time Dolores sees a whale swimming in the ocean. The whale— which Dolores calls "she" —rises out of the ocean and splashes back down. Dolores calls the descent "gentle," perhaps as a coming home. The first whale—dead—could be interpreted as being symbolic of Dolores' mother and even what she thinks of her life. The other whale—living—is what Dolores' life has become.