Steel Bolt

The steel bolt that falls out of the sky to strike Demetria while she tends a field is an important symbol of the jurisdiction of happenstance in individual lives. Duncan is fascinated with the idea of fate and foreordainment, and this strange occurrence—one that proves world-altering not only for Demetria but also for TJ and those lives he comes to touch—is returned to frequently throughout the novel as an example of the strangeness of fate.

Gary Snyder

The poetry of Gary Snyder is a symbol of the romantic relationship that forms between Lorilee and Trey surrounding their shared love of the mountains. Their different (and, it turns out, opposed) interpretations of the line of poetry that they both come to love speaks to their disagreements as individuals and the gendered contrast of their natures. Furthermore, Snyder's work comes to stand in, in Lorilee's...