The Hedge

When Thomas and John Cole are young boys, they meet under a “hedge in goddamn Missouri” (5), which comes to symbolize their lifelong unity. For Thomas, the hedge is somewhat of a paradox. On the one hand, he feels their encounter there was “strange and fateful” (4), as if it was their destiny to meet. At the same time, he refers to it later as an “anonymous hedge” (5), suggesting that they were lucky to find each other under the same shrub. Serving as a place of refuge, the hedge also comes to symbolize the secrecy of their intimate relationship, which they keep hidden from public for fear of being ostracized or misunderstood.

Dresses

Dresses become a potent symbol of Thomas’s femininity. He wears one for the first time in Mr. Noone’s saloon in order to give “the illusion of the gentler sex” (9), but soon discovers...