Urn of ashes

The urn of August's mother symbolizes everything August does not want to face. The urn reappears in the second half of the book. It is literally her mother's body, but it is also symbolic of what August is refusing to acknowledge. August's acknowledgement of that urn and what it contains means the end of her fantasy that her mother will return.

Water at SweetGrove

The water at SweetGrove symbolize loss. Typically, water is seen as cleansing, or is a symbol for rebirth. Another Brooklyn frustrates the typical symbol of water as cleansing or indicating a rebirth by making water the thing that kills August's mother. The water at SweetGrove signals death for August.

Still, the end of the book begins to revise that symbolism, as it is at the water's edge that August begins to heal. It is where she begins to lose the...