Rabbit Cake

During Eva’s lifetime, rabbit cakes represented celebration and new beginnings for the Babbitt family. After her death, when Lizzie starts baking rabbit cakes for the Guinness World Record, the rabbit cake becomes a repetitive, everyday task. In this iteration, the rabbit cake becomes a symbol for grief itself: the task of getting through day after day until all of the sudden, you have a lot of days behind you.

Ocean Jesus

Ocean Jesus symbolizes Eva Babbitt’s perception of the world. She was a scientist and taught her children to look closely at things to find beauty and wonder. Ocean Jesus, a statue made of ocean debris, is not an immediately beautiful piece of art--Frank calls it ugly. Both Elvis and Lizzie, however, see the beauty in it.

Red Panda

The red panda, also known as the shining cat, which is neither panda nor...