Texas Landscape

The Texas landscape functions as a symbol of both the enormity and immutability of time's passage. Early in the novel, Hằng compares it to the ocean that she crossed in order to arrive in America, speaking to the sense in which the space she has arrived in feels as vast and foreign as the space she crossed to get there. At the novel's conclusion, too, Hằng considers the information that she has learned from LeeRoy, that the desert was at one time an ocean, and finds herself contemplating the idea that her mother's bones will one day lie above ground.

Ginger

The ginger that Hằng snacks on as she attempts to survive the scorching hot bus ride to Amarillo is a symbol of her connection to her heritage. As she contemplates, ginger has been used as a cure-all in her family for...