Metal Cups

The metal cups that Merit purchases for her family's kitchen are a symbol of the ways in which people turn to consumerism as a means of transcending the drudgeries of domestic life. As Merit admits, the cups are impractical and unnecessary, but give her a sense of living an independent and adult life because they are a variation from the colorful plastic that Jude and Nash had been using previously. In this sense, the cups serve as an embodiment of the insufficiency of Merit's attempts to invigorate herself with small aesthetic tweaks, a common trap that people fall into when their lives are in a rut.

Painting

In many respects, painting serves as a symbol for Merit's relationship with motherhood, contemplation, and domesticity throughout the novel. Merit initially takes up painting as a respite from the arduous hours she has been working in order to...