The Dark Green Rowboat

The rowboat upon which the young man and young woman ride for the duration of the story symbolizes the relationship between the two protagonists. Throughout the story, the two characters' relationship is tumultuous, as it traverses from comfortable to fragile. The rowboat mirrors this because the rowboat smoothly glides along the lake at some points in the story, but it is in dangerous shallow waters at other points.

The Lake

The lake symbolizes the unwelcoming nature of the trailer park. Banks repeatedly refers to the lake as thick, oily, gray, etc. These descriptions present the lake as a body of water that would not be welcoming. This is enforced by the fact that the fish in the lake are not active, so the young man cannot find any when he goes fishing. Therefore, the fact that the lake encompasses the trailer park and...